SEYMOUR  DURST 


'When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  hook 

Because  it  has  heen  said 
"Ever'thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  hook." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


History  of 
Medicine  in  New  York 

Three  Centuries  of  Medical  Progress 


BY 

JAMES  J.  WALSH,  M.D.,  Ph.D.,  Sc.D. 

Member  of  the  French,  German  and  ItaHan  Societies  for  the  History  of 
Medicine;  author  of  History  of  Medical  Society  of  the  State 
of  New  York;  Makers  of  Modern  Medicine;  Old-Time 
Makers  of  Medicine;  Medieval  Medicine;  Psycho- 
therapy; The  Popes  and  Science;  The  Cen- 
tury of  Columbus;    The  Thirteenth 
Greatest   of   Centuries,  etc. 


Volume  H 


NATIONAL  AMERICANA  SOCIETY,  Inc. 
NEW  YORK 
1919 


V/,  ^ 


Copyright,  1919, 
National  Americana  Society,  Inc. 


I'ress  of 
J.  J.  Little  &  Ives  Co. 
New  York 


CHAPTER  XXI 


DISTINGUISHED  PHYSICIAN  SCIENTISTS 

NEW  YORK  has  had  a  rather  long  series  of  distinguished 
scientists  whose  introduction  to  the  study  of  science  came 
through  medicine.  As  a  rule,  they  were  men  who  discovered 
their  own  vocation  for  scientific  work,  original  research  and  investi- 
gation, as  the  result  of  their  studies  in  medicine.  Some  of  them 
practised  medicine  for  some  years  until  they  secured  some  sort  of 
a  teaching  or  official  position  which  enabled  them  to  pursue  their 
scientific  studies  as  they  wished.  Others  devoted  themselves  at 
once  to  some  of  the  sciences  related  to  medicine,  and  found  occupa- 
tion of  mind  and  heart  in  pure  scientific  work. 

The  first  and  most  distinguished  of  these  is  undoubtedly  Dr. 
Cadwalader  Colden,  usually  known  in  history  as  Governor  Golden, 
though  he  never  attained  higher  rank  than  that  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  and  Acting  Governor  of  the  Colony.  Dr.  Colden  did 
work  in  botany  that  attracted  attention  not  only  here  in  America 
but  also  in  Europe,  and  because  of  his  high  position,  his  success 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  rising  generation  in  America  to  the 
important  field  of  original  work  in  science  that  lay  so  invitingly 
open  in  this  country. 

Because  of  his  relations  with  prominent  men  of  science  in  Europe 
as  well  as  America,  Dr.  Colden 's  place  in  the  history  of  science  is 
assured.  His  interest  in  botany  brought  him  into  close  touch  with 
Linnaeus,  the  well-known  Swedish  botanist,  and  Linnaeus  ac- 
knowledged his  obligations  to  him  for  botanical  work  done  in 
America.  Dr.  Colden 's  paper  "On  the  Virtues  of  the  Great  Water 
Dock"  {Rumex  aquaticus)  came  under  Linnaeus'  eye  and  led  to 
the  opening  of  a  correspondence.  Professor  Asa  Gray  in  the  last 
generation  collected  these  letters  that  passed  between  the  American 
and  Swedish  lovers  of  plants  and  published  them  with  some  other 
Colden  letters.  As  the  result  of  this  intimate  association,  Linnaeus 
named  a  plant  of  the  tetrandrous  class,  a  specimen  of  which  had 
been  sent  him  by  Colden 's  daughter,  Coldenia,  in  honor  of  his 

325 


326 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


friend's  family  name.  The  naming  is  usually  considered  to  have 
been  a  special  compliment  to  the  young  lady  such  as  Linnaeus  liked 
to  pay. 

Golden  kept  up  the  correspondence  with  some  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished scientists  of  the  time,  not  only  Linnaeus,  as  already 
mentioned,  but  Gronovius,  Collinson,  Bard,  and  Garden,  Douglass, 
Bartram,  Whytte  and  Alexander,  and  above  all  with  Franklin,  who 
confesses  that  the  idea  and  plan  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society  really  came  to  him  from  Governor  Golden.  His  letters  to 
Benjamin  Franklin  are  particularly  interesting,  concerning  most 
of  the  subjects  in  physics,  but  particularly  electricity  and  gravita- 
tion. Stereotyping  is  said  to  have  been  an  invention  of  Golden 's, 
though  subsequently  taken  up  and  developed  without  acknowledg- 
ment to  the  original  inventor  by  an  enterprising  Frenchman.  His 
scientific  work  was  rather  thoroughly  appreciated  in  Europe. 

In  spite  of  his  intimate  friendship  with  Franklin,  Governor  Col- 
den,  probably  from  his  official  connections,  continued  to  be  in- 
tensely loyal  to  Great  Britain  when  the  troubles  with  the  Mother 
Country  began.  He  insisted  that  the  stamped  paper  made  com- 
pulsory by  the  famous  Stamp  Act  must  be  used,  but  soon  found 
that  the  people  of  the  colony  were  against  him.  Golden  was  now  a 
very  old  man,  past  eighty-seven,  but  he  still  had  pluck,  so  he  re- 
tired to  Fort  George  with  a  garrison  of  marines.  It  is  said  that  he 
ordered  the  marines  to  fire  on  the  populace  when  they  were  sedi- 
tious, but  the  marines  refused.  In  the  disturbances  which  fol- 
lowed, Golden 's  official  carriage  as  Lieutenant-Governor  was  seized 
and  burned,  along  with  an  effigy  of  himself,  and  it  is  said  also  of 
the  devil.  Finding  life  too  uncomfortable  under  the  circumstances 
in  New  York,  Golden  retired  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  to 
a  large  estate  which  he  owned  near  Newburgh,  called  Goldenham. 
Here  he  occupied  himself  entirely  with  his  favorite  sciences,  espe- 
cially botany,  electricity  and  mathematics.  His  home  had  been 
the  meeting  place  for  the  learned  men  of  the  colonies,  and  his  high- 
est pleasure  in  life  had  been  to  entertain  them,  but  the  disturbance 
due  to  the  Revolutionary  War  interfered  with  this,  and  the  follow- 
ing year,  on  September  28th,  1776,  only  a  few  months  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  the  physician,  scientist,  governor, 
passed  away. 

A  distinguished  physician  scientist  of  the  latter  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  whose  long  life,  however,  carried  him  over  in 


PHYSICIAN  SCIENTISTS 


327 


health  of  mind  and  body  to  be  a  prominent  factor  in  the  first  two 
decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  was  Dr.  Hugh  Williamson,  orig- 
inally a  Philadelphian,  and  curiously  enough,  in  spite  of  that,  re- 
ceiving his  graduate  education  at  the  Dutch  University  of  Utrecht 
instead  of  a  British  university.  He  practised  but  for  a  very  short 
time  in  Philadelphia,  and  being  threatened  with  consumption,  took 
up  his  residence  in  North  Carolina.  Just  what  dictated  his  choice 
of  a  neighborhood  that  has  since  become  well  known  for  its  suit- 
ableness for  patients  of  this  kind,  is  not  known.  His  recovery  was 
so  complete,  however,  that  he  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
three.  After  his  recovery  he  took  up  his  residence  in  New  York 
and  shared  actively  in  many  interesting  movements  for  the  benefit 
of  the  State  and  its  inhabitants.  He  was  one  of  the  prime  movers 
in  the  Erie  Canal  project,  one  of  the  really  important  members  of 
the  New  York  Historical  Society,  and  a  founder  of  the  Literary 
and  Philosophical  Society  of  New  York,  which  in  the  early  days 
did  yeoman  work  for  the  intellectual  life  of  the  city.  Dr.  Francis 
says  of  his  varied  activities : 

In  1769  he  (Williamson)  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  committee  con- 
sisting of  Rittenhouse,  Ewing,  Smith,  the  provost,  and  Charles  Thomp- 
son, afterwards  Secretary  to  Congress,  all  mathematicians  and  astronomers, 
to  observe  the  transit  of  Vemis  in  1769.  He  published  an  essay  on 
Comets,  afterwards  enlarged  and  printed  in  the  "Transactions  of  the 
Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of  New  York."  In  this  communication 
he  adheres  to  his  original  opinion,  that  every  planet  and  every  comet  in 
our  system  in  inhabited.  By  appointment  with  Dr.  Ewing  he  made  a 
tour  in  Great  Britain  in  1773,  for  the  benefit  of  a  literary  institution. 
He  wrote  on  the  Gymnotius  electricus,  and  upon  his  return  to  North  Caro- 
lina was  an  active  agent  in  the  promotion  of  inoculation,  and  finally  re- 
ceived a  commission  as  head  of  the  medical  staff  of  the  American  army  of 
that  State.  In  1782  he  took  his  seat  as  a  representative  of  Edenton  in  the 
House  of  Commons  of  North  Carolina.  In  1786  he  was  one  of  the  mem- 
bers who  were  sent  to  Annapolis  for  the  amendment  of  the  constitution, 
and  in  1789  we  find  him  in  New  York,  and  in  the  first  Congress  when  the 
constitution  was  carried  into  effect.  He  wrote  an  octavo  volume  on  the 
climate  of  America.  He  contends,  from  numerous  facts,  that  the  climate 
is  ameliorated,  and  Jefferson  admitted  that  his  memoir  was  an  ingenious, 
sound  and  satisfactory  piece  of  philosophy.  In  the  "Medical  Repository" 
he  offered  some  new  and  ingenious  speculations  on  the  fascinating  powers 
of  serpents.  In  1812  appeared  his  ^  *  History  of  North  Carolina. ' '  He  was 
the  author  of  several  papers  on  medical  and  philosophical  subjects,  and 
on  the  canal  policy  of  the  State,  printed  in  the  "American  Medical  and 
Philosophical  Register.'^  He  was  among  the  first  of  our  citizens  who  enter- 


328 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


tained  correct  views  on  the  practicability  of  the  union  of  the  waters  of  the 
Hudson  and  Lake  Erie.  After  all  this  activity  he  died  in  1819,  at  the 
advanced  age  of  eighty-three  years. 

A  man  of  undoubted  distinction  in  the  sciences  and  whose  in- 
fluence meant  very  much  for  the  encouragement  of  the  cultivation 
of  science,  was  David  Hosack.  His  foundation  of  the  New  York 
Botanical  Garden  did  much  for  the  science  of  botany,  while  his 
interest  in  mineralogy  did  almost  as  much  for  that  science.  He  was 
a  man  of  very  broad  interests,  who  occupied  an  enviable  position  in 
New  York  life  and  who  constantly  used  that  position  to  secure  for 
his  fellow-citizens  all  the  benefits  that  the  sciences  could  bring  to 
them.  Perhaps  the  best  possible  summary  of  his  career  comes  from 
the  pen  of  his  pupil  and  colleague  who,  intimately  associated  with 
him,  probably  knew  better  than  any  one  else  the  multifariousness 
of  Hosack 's  interests.  Dr.  Samuel  Francis  in  his  ''Old  New 
York"  says  of  him: 

Of  my  preceptor  and  friend  David  Hosack,  let  it  be  sufficient  to  re- 
mark that,  distinguished  beyond  all  his  competitors  in  the  healing  art, 
for  a  long  series  of  years,  he  was  acknowledged,  by  every  hearer,  to  have 
been  the  most  eloquent  and  impressive  teacher  of  scientific  medicine  and 
clinical  practise  this  country  has  produced.  He  was,  indeed,  a  great  in- 
structor; his  descriptive  powers  and  his  diagnosis  were  the  admiration  of 
all;  his  efficiency  in  rearing,  to  a  state  of  high  consideration,  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  while  he  held  the  responsible  office  of  pro- 
fessor, is  known  throughout  the  Republic;  his  early  movements  to  estab- 
lish a  medical  library  in  the  New  York  Hospital;  his  cooperation  with  the 
numerous  charities  which  glorify  the  metropoHs;  his  adventurous  outlay 
of  the  establishment  of  a  State  Botanical  Garden;  his  hygienic  suggestions 
the  better  to  improve  the  medical  police  of  New  York;  his  primary  for- 
mation of  a  mineralogical  cabinet;  his  copious  writings  on  fevers,  quaran- 
tines, and  foreign  pestilence,  in  which  he  was  the  strenuous  and  almost  the 
sole  advocate  for  years,  of  doctrines  now  verified  by  popular  demon- 
stration; these,  and  a  thousand  other  circumstances,  secured  to  him  a 
weight  of  character  that  was  almost  universally  felt  throughout  the  me- 
tropoHs. It  was  not  infrequently  remarked  by  our  citizens,  that  Clinton, 
Hosack,  and  Hobart,  were  the  tripod  on  which  our  city  stood.  The  lofty 
aspirations  of  Hosack  were  further  evinced  by  his  whole  career  as  a 
citizen.  Surrounded  by  his  large  and  costly  library,  his  house  was  the 
resort  of  the  learned  and  enlightened  from  every  part  of  the  world.  No 
traveler  from  abroad  rested  satisfied  without  a  personal  mterview  with 
him;  and,  at  his  evening  soirees,  the  literati,  the  philosopher  and  the 
statesman,  the  skilful  in  natural  science,  and  the  explorer  of  new  regions, 
the  archaeologist  and  the  theologue,  met  together,  participators  m  the 


SAMUEL  L.  MITCHELL 


PHYSICIAN  SCIENTISTS 


329 


recreation  of  familiar  intercourse.  Your  printed  volumes  contain  all,  I 
believe,  he  ever  prepared  for  you  as  your  President.  His  strictly  medical 
writings  are  of  some  extent,  and  have  excited  a  profitable  emulation  in  the 
cause  of  science  and  humanity,  and  renewed  inquiry  into  the  causes  of 
pestilence  and  the  laws  of  contagion.  His  memoir  of  his  friend  De  Witt 
Clinton,  is  a  tribute  to  the  talents  and  heroic  virtues  of  that  great  states- 
man, and  contains  the  most  ample  history  we  possess  of  the  origin,  prog- 
ress, and  termination  of  the  Erie  Canal.  His  life  was  a  triumph  in  services 
rendered  and  in  honors  received;  his  death  was  a  loss  to  New  York,  the 
city  of  his  birth;  his  remains  were  followed  to  the  gi^ave  by  the  eminent 
of  every  profession,  and  by  the  humble  in  life  whom  his  art  had  relieved. 
Hosack  was  a  man  of  profuse  expenditure;  he  regarded  money  only  for 
what  it  might  command.  Had  he  possessed  the  wealth  of  John  Jacob 
Astor,  he  might  have  died  poor. 

A  distinguished  physician  scientist  of  the  early  nineteenth  cen- 
tury not  well  remembered  in  our  time  but  v^hose  memory  deserves 
to  be  perpetuated  was  Archibald  Bruce.  He  began  the  study  of 
medicine  with  Hosack  as  his  preceptor  and  then,  like  so  many 
other  of  the  New  Yorkers  of  that  time  who  were  anxious  for  gradu- 
ate work,  he  went  to  Scotland.  He  was  a  fellow  student  of  Francis 
in  Hosack 's  office,  though  preceding  him,  and  Francis  has  sum- 
marized his  career  and  at  the  same  time  brought  out  his  relations 
with  some  of  the  distinguished  men  in  Europe  at  this  time.  Francis 
said:  "Bruce,  the  physician  and  mineralogist,  was  born  in  New 
York  in  1771,  was  graduated  at  Columbia  College,  studied  medicine 
with  Hosack,  and  in  1800,  received  the  doctorate  at  the  Edinburgh 
University.  While  in  Scotland  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the 
Wemerian  theory  under  Jameson,  and  subsequently  became  a  cor- 
respondent of  the  Abbe  Haiiy,  the  founder  of  crystallography. 
He  collected  a  large  cabinet  of  minerals  while  traveling  about  in 
Europe,  projected  the  Amerimn  Journal  of  Mineralogy  in  1810, 
the  first  periodical  of  that  science  in  the  United  States,  and  was 
created  Mineralogical  Professor  by  the  Regents  of  the  University 
at  the  organization  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons. 
He  had  a  cultivated  taste  for  the  Fine  Arts,  and  contributed  to 
our  Library.  He  died  in  1818.  His  reputation  rests  with  his 
discovery  at  Hoboken  of  the  hydrate  of  magnesia."  In  Silliman's 
Journal  there  is  a  biography  of  him. 

New  York's  most  distinguished  physician  scientist  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  whose  interests  always  centred  on  medicine  was  Dr. 
Samuel  Latham  Mitchill,  who  was  born  in  North  Hempstead  (Plan- 


330 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


dome),  Queens  county,  Long  Island,  on  the  20th  of  August,  1764. 
His  father,  Robert  Mitchill,  of  English  descent,  belonged  to  the 
Society  of  Friends,  for  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  there  was 
quite  a  colony  of  Friends  on  this  part  of  Long  Island ;  and  George 
Fox,  the  founder  of  Quakerism,  lived  for  a  time  in  this  neighbor- 
hood. Even  as  late  as  Mitchill's  time  the  spot  was  often  pointed 
out  where  Fox  used  to  walk  under  the  famous  oaks  at  Flushing. 
His  mother's  brother.  Dr.  Samuel  Latham,  encouraged  young 
Mitchill  to  take  up  medicine,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  secured  him 
a  place  as  a  pupil  with  Dr.  Samuel  Bard,  who  was  looked  upon  at 
the  time  as  probably  the  most  distinguished  of  New  York's  prac- 
titioners of  medicine.  After  three  years  of  study  with  Dr.  Bard, 
young  Mitchill  went  over  to  Edinburgh,  where  Cullen  and  Black 
and  Duncan  and  Monro  were  doing  work  that  made  Edinburgh 
a  centre  of  medical  attention  at  the  time,  and  where  there  was 
every  incentive  to  the  medical  student  interested  in  his  profes- 
sion. While  there.  Dr.  Mitchill  made  the  acquaintance  of  Dr. 
Caspar  Wistar,  who  subsequently  taught  anatomy  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania  and  after  whom  the  Anatomical  Museum  there 
is  named.  He  also  met  Dr.  Richard  S.  Kissam,  who  was  after- 
wards to  be  a  distinguished  surgeon  in  New  York  City,  and  cur- 
iously enough  also  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  the  lawyer  who,  after 
his  return  to  his  native  Dublin,  was  to  be  banished  from  Ireland 
and  was  to  come  to  America  to  be  the  leader  of  the  New  York  Bar. 

When  Mitchill  returned  to  New  York,  it  was  not  to  take  up  the 
drudgery  of  medical  practice,  but  to  interest  himself  in  many 
phases  of  knowledge,  taking  even  a  course  in  law,  and  to  keep  in 
touch  with  the  progress  of  science  abroad  and  help  scientists  and 
physicians  all  that  he  could  here  in  America.  He  was  appointed 
Professor  of  Chemistry  in  Columbia  College,  and  introduced  La- 
voisier's ideas.  He  was  in  regular  correspondence  with  Sir 
Humphry  Davy,  and  Priestley,  the  discoverer  of  oxygen.  His 
mineralogical  survey  of  New  York  attracted  attention  in  Europe, 
while  his  analysis  of  the  Saratoga  waters  made  physicians  realize 
what  valuable  therapeutic  qualities  there  were  in  our  own  mineral 
springs.  He  became  interested  in  botany,  mainly  in  the  practical 
side  of  it  for  the  sake  of  materia  medica,  and  he  was  in  constant 
correspondence  on  the  subject  with  Barton  of  Philadelphia,  Cutler 
of  Massachusetts,  and  Ramsay  of  South  Carolina.  He  became  very 
much  interested  in  the  American  Indians,  and  made  some  serious 


PHYSICIAN  SCIENTISTS 


331 


researches  into  their  ethnology.  When  Fulton,  the  inventor  of 
the  steamboat,  was  discouraged  by  the  failure  of  those  around  him 
to  recognize  the  merit  of  his  invention,  Mitchill  encouraged  him  and 
he  accompanied  Fulton  on  the  first  voyage  of  his  steamboat  in 
August,  1807. 

He  was  interested,  however,  in  social  problems  as  well  as  scien- 
tific work,  and  he  was  associated  with  Griscom,  Eddy,  Colden  and 
Wood  in  the  establishment  of  an  institution  for  the  deaf  and  dumb. 
With  Eddy  and  Hosack  he  may  be  considered  the  first  in  the  city 
to  learn  the  sign  language  in  order  to  communicate  with  the  deaf. 
He  cooperated  with  Jonathan  Williams  in  the  furtherance  of  the 
Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  He  was  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  general  government  for  the  construction 
of  a  new  naval  force  to  be  propelled  by  steam.  He  stood  for 
election  as  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate  in  order  that 
his  scientific  and  medical  knowledge  might  be  of  service  to  the 
country,  and  to  him  in  conjunction  with  Bay  ley  we  owe  important 
improvement  in  our  quarantine  laws.  He  was  a  prominent  member 
of  the  convention  held  at  Philadelphia  in  1819  for  preparing  a 
National  Pharmacopeia. 

For  many  years  he  was  Professor  of  Agriculture  and  Chemistry 
in  Columbia  College,  and  of  Natural  History,  Botany  and  Materia 
Medica  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  He  wrote  a 
number  of  important  scientific  papers,  many  of  which  were  pub- 
lished in  the  London  Philosophic  Magazine,  and  he  was  one  of 
the  founders  with  Miller  and  Smith  of  the  New  York  Medical 
Repository.  Articles  of  his  appeared  also  in  the  American  Medi- 
cal and  Philosophical  Registry;  the  New  York  Medical  and  Phy- 
sical Journal;  the  American  Mineralogical  Journal;  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Philadelphia  and,  though 
this  might  seem  enough  of  avenues  of  publicity  for  one  man,  Dr. 
J ohn  W.  Francis,  in  writing  his  reminiscences  of  him  in  Valentine  *s 
*'City  Manual,"  an  article  from  which  most  of  these  details  are 
borrowed,  says:  '*He  supplied  several  other  periodicals  both 
abroad  and  at  home  with  the  results  of  his  cogitation. ' ' 

In  early  life  Mitchill,  who  was  of  rather  slight  build,  though 
five  feet  ten  inches  in  height,  suffered  from  tuberculosis.  Dr. 
Francis'  biographer  puts  it  gently  that  he  had  ''a  hemorrhagic 
tendency  of  his  chest  at  the  age  of  seventeen."  It  is  rather  in- 
teresting to  see  just  how  this  nephew  of  a  doctor  who  was  at  the 


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MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


same  time  a  medical  student  in  the  office  of  the  most  distinguished 
physician  of  New  York  at  the  time,  was  treated.  He  adopted  exer- 
cise on  horseback,  Dr.  Francis  says,  and  was  fortunate  enough  to 
avert  the  progress  of  pulmonary  evils.  He  seems  to  have  become  of 
rugged  health  and  strength  later  in  life,  for  there  is  a  tradition 
that  he  might  be  seen  at  any  time  without  hat  or  overcoat,  ex- 
posed to  the  vicissitudes  of  inclement  weather.  Dr.  Francis  says 
that  ' '  his  robustness  preserved  his  full  features  unto  the  last ;  not 
a  wrinkle  ever  marked  his  face."  Manifestly  after  a  disturbing' 
hemorrhage  in  his  early  years,  Mitchill  recovered  completely 
through  the  prescription  to  take  outdoor  air  after  the  fashion  that 
Stokes  in  Ireland  and  a  number  of  others  were  recommending  the 
open  air  treatment  for  pulmonary  tuberculosis  at  this  time, — 
namely,  by  horseback  riding. 

There  was  scarcely  a  public  work  of  any  importance  undertaken 
in  New  York  in  his  time  with  which  Dr.  Mitchill  was  not  intimately 
associated.  He  had  followed  closely,  using  all  his  influence  in  its 
favor,  the  movement  for  the  Erie  Canal,  and  his  biographer  says 
that  the  proudest  day  of  his  life  was  that  on  which  at  the  Canal 
celebration  in  October,  1825,  he,  with  Clinton,  Colden,  Eddy  and 
others,  united  in  ''indissoluble  marriage  the  waters  of  our  inland 
lakes  with  the  ocean." 

He  was  highly  honored  by  his  contemporaries,  though  so  little 
is  remembered  of  him  at  the  present  time.  A  species  of  fish  was 
named  after  him,  the  perca  MitchilU;  the  highest  point  of  the 
Navesink  hills  was  called  by  topographers  of  the  time  Mount 
Mitchill ;  and  after  his  circumnavigation  of  Long  Island  the  light- 
house at  Sand's  Point  was  called  ''The  Mitchill."  His  interests 
were  too  varied,  however,  for  him  to  make  a  deep  impression  any- 
where, and  while  few  men  have  been  more  useful  to  his  own  gen- 
eration, Mitchill 's  name  has  come  almost  to  be  entirely  forgotten  in 
ours,  yet  deserves  to  be  recalled  in  the  history  of  medicine  in  New 
York  with  more  than  a  passing  mention  because  of  the  prestige  his 
breadth  of  knowledge  lent  to  the  medical  profession  of  his  time. 

Mitchill  was  the  Admirable  Crichton  of  his  time  here  in  New 
York,  a  man  of  encyclopedic  mind  to  whom  all  sorts  of  people 
applied  for  information,  and  who  liked  to  put  his  stores  of  knowl- 
edge at  the  service  of  any  one  who  desired  it.  Dr.  Francis  says  of 
him:  "With  all  his  official  honors  and  scientific  testimonials, 
foreign  and  native,  he  was  ever  accessible  to  everybody — the  coun- 


PHYSICIAN  SCIENTISTS 


333 


selor  of  the  young,  the  dictionary  of  the  learned.  Even  the  captious 
John  Randolph  (the  grumpy  Randolph  of  Roanoke)  called  him 
the  Congressional  Library."  He  was  frequently  called  upon  for 
eulogies  on  his  contemporaries,  because  better  than  any  one  else  he 
knew  the  details  of  their  careers,  and  there  are  in  the  collections 
of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  eulogia  furnished  by  him  on  the 
great  jurist,  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  on  Dr.  Rush  of  Philadelphia, 
the  distinguished  Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
on  Dr.  Samuel  Bard,  the  pioneer  teacher  of  medicine  in  New  York. 
Clubs  and  organizations  of  all  kinds  asked  him  for  addresses,  and 
were  practically  never  disappointed,  and  he  was  literally  a  treasure 
house  of  curious  facts  of  historical  and  scientific  interest. 

A  little  known  physician  scientist  of  New  York,  though  his  work 
meant  much  for  one  phase  of  scientific  progress  in  the  first  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  was  Dr.  John  Clarkson  Jay,  the  grand- 
son of  John  Jay.  Shortly  after  his  marriage  with  Laura  Prime, 
the  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Prime,  the  banker,  he  gave  up  practice 
and  devoted  himself  to  conchology.  He  became  one  of  the  world 
authorities  on  the  subject.  The  Jay  collection  of  shells  made  by 
him  is  now  in  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  He  was  ac- 
tive in  the  foundation  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History  which 
preceded  the  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences.  He  was  selected  to 
write  the  government  reports  on  the  shells  gathered  during  the  ex- 
pedition to  Japan  under  the  command  of  Commodore  Perry.  In  his 
monograph,  '  ^  Description  of  New  and  Rare  Shells, ' '  he  enumerated 
over  ten  thousand  well  marked  varieties  and  some  seven  thou- 
sand definitely  recognized  species. 

One  of  New  York's  distinguished  scientists  in  the  first  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  who  owed  his  early  introduction  to  science 
to  his  medical  education,  was  John  Torrey  (1798-1873).  He  was 
the  son  of  Captain  William  Torrey,  of  the  American  Revolution, 
and  graduated  with  his  medical  degree  in  1818.  He  took  up  the 
study  of  plants  as  a  specialty  and  became  famous  as  a  botanist, 
although  during  the  early  years  after  his  graduation  he  had  spe- 
cialized in  chemistry  and  mineralogy.  He  became  Professor  of 
Chemistry,  Geology  and  Mineralogy  at  the  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point  in  1824,  but  resigned  that  position  to  accept  the  Pro- 
fessorship of  Chemistry  and  Botany  at  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons.  From  1830  to  1854  he  was  Professor  of  Chemistry 
and  Natural  History  at  Princeton.   His  contributions  to  botany  be- 


334 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


gan  to  appear  very  early  and  continued  during  a  long  life.  When 
he  was  twenty-one  he  published  a  ''Catalogue  of  Plants  within 
Thirty  Miles  of  New  York."  Five  years  later  he  published 
Flora  of  the  Northern  and  Middle  States  of  North  America ;  or  a 
Systematic  Arrangement  and  Description  of  all  the  Plants  Hitherto 
Discovered  in  the  United  States  of  North  America."  Fifteen 
years  later  he  edited  jointly  with  Dr.  Asa  Gray,  "A  Flora  of  North 
America." 

Another  distinguished  scientist  for  whom  medicine  proved  a  firm 
support  in  a  troublous  time  was  Peter  H.  Vander  Weyde  (1813- 
1895),  who  in  the  midst  of  the  Revolutionary  troubles  in  Europe 
just  before  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  found  it  advisable 
to  abandon  his  native  country,  Holland,  and  come  to  America.  He 
had  been  the  editor  of  a  daily  paper  of  revolutionary  tendencies 
which  insisted  on  the  necessity  for  governmental  reforms.  He  was 
born  at  Njrmegen,  Holland,  and  graduated  from  the  Royal  Academy 
at  Delft.  He  became  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Phi- 
losophy at  the  Government  School  of  Design.  He  founded  a  journal 
devoted  to  mathematics  and  physics,  and  came  to  be  looked  upon 
as  one  of  the  leading  scientists  not  only  of  his  own  country  but  of 
Europe.  His  exile  interrupted  his  work.  On  his  arrival  in  America 
he  studied  medicine  at  New  York  University,  and  practised  until 
he  became  Professor  of  Physics,  Chemistry  and  Higher  Mathe- 
matics, occupying  the  chair  of  Chemistry  also  in  the  New  York 
Medical  College.  The  chair  in  Industrial  Science  was  created  for 
him  at  Girard  College,  Philadelphia,  in  1864,  but  after  a  few  years 
he  resigned  it  to  devote  himself  to  scientific  journalism  and  edi- 
torial work,  particularly  with  Appleton's  ''New  American  En- 
cyclopedia," and  to  the  development  of  his  patents,  mostly  elec- 
trical, of  which  he  had  a  large  number. 

The  most  distinguished  of  the  botanists  of  this  country.  Dr.  Asa 
Gray  (1810-1888),  entered  into  his  scientific  work  through  his 
medical  education,  receiving  his  degree  of  M.D.  at  the  Medical 
College  of  the  Western  District  of  New  York  at  Fairfield,  in  1831. 
He  became  the  Assistant  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Botany  to  Dr. 
John  Torrey  in  the  New  York  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
in  1833.  After  this  his  botanical  work  took  him  away  from  any 
close  affiliation  with  the  medical  profession,  and  he  devoted  himself 
to  purely  scientific  botany.  He  was  probably  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  our  scientists  in  the  nineteenth  century,  holding  de- 


PHYSICIAN  SCIENTISTS 


335 


grees  from  many  foreign  universities,  and  memberships,  honorary 
and  corresponding,  in  a  great  many  scientific  societies. 

Probably  the  most  distinguished  scientist  among  the  physicians 
of  New  York  in  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  Dr. 
John  William  Draper,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Physiology  in 
the  New  York  University  Medical  College,  but  known  as  a  discov- 
erer in  science,  a  writer  on  philosophic  and  historical  subjects  and 
a  scholar  of  wide  reading  who  was  well  known  in  Europe  as  well  as 
America.  Professor  Draper  was  the  first  in  this  country  to  take  a 
daguerreotype  portrait.  On  the  announcement  in  this  country  of 
Daguerre's  discovery.  Professor  Draper  made  a  camera  out  of  a 
cigar  box  fitted  with  an  ordinary  spectacle  lens,  and  began  his  ex- 
periments, first  on  still  life  and  then  by  taking  human  portraits. 
He  was  also  the  first  to  make  a  picture  of  the  moon  by  its  own  light, 
which  had  been  hitherto  considered  impossible.  His  text  book  of 
human  physiology,  as  also  the  text  book  on  chemistry  and  a  third 
on  natural  philosophy,  passed  through  numerous  editions.  Indeed, 
"Draper's  Physiology"  continued  to  be  the  text  book  most  used 
in  the  medical  schools  of  this  country  for  the  generation  following 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Among  the  physician  scientists  of  New  York,  Dr.  Henry  Draper 
(1837-1882)  well  deserves  a  place.  He  was  the  son  of  Dr.  John 
"William  Draper,  and  inherited  his  father's  broad  scientific  inter- 
ests, and  had  the  advantage  of  intimate  association  with  him  in 
early  years.  He  received  his  degree  of  M.D.  in  1858,  and  in  1862 
became  the  Professor  of  Analytical  Chemistry  in  the  University  of 
the  City  of  New  York.  After  ten  years  of  service  the  chair  of 
Physiology  was  combined  with  this,  and  he  continued  his  occupation 
of  it  until  his  death  in  1882.  His  extra-medical  scientific  interests 
centered  particularly  in  astronomy.  He  was  the  superintendent 
of  the  government  commission  for  the  observation  of  the  transit 
of  Venus  in  1874,  and  he  received  a  medal  for  the  good  work  then 
done.  He  proved  by  photography  that  there  was  oxygen  in  the 
sun,  and  he  photographed  spectra  and  the  stellar  nebula  of  Orion. 
He  made  the  best  moon  photograph,  some  fifty  inches  in  diameter, 
ever  made  up  to  this  time,  and  he  did  a  great  deal  to  arouse  in- 
terest in  astronomy  and  particularly  in  the  construction  of  tele- 
scopes in  this  country. 


CHAPTER  XXII 


PHYSICIAN  WRITERS 

NEW  YORK  physicians  have  provided  much  more  than  their 
share  of  the  medical  literature  of  the  country.  In  propor- 
tion to  the  population  and  the  number  of  physicians,  much 
more  has  been  written  about  patients  here  in  New  York  than  else- 
where, thus  providing  valuable  data  for  the  development  of  medi- 
cine and  the  comparative  value  of  diagnosis  and  treatment.  It 
would  be  easy  to  think  that  such  a  claim  represented  perhaps  only 
enthusiasm  for  our  special  subject,  and  that  while  during  the  past 
generation  or  so  New  York  has  been  a  leader  in  this  regard,  this 
prominence  is  only  a  development  of  later  years  since  the  metrop- 
olis has  become  such  an  important  focus  of  medical  activity.  We 
have,  however,  excellent  New  England  authority,  no  less  than  the 
testimony  of  our  oldest  medical  historian  and  biographer  in  this 
country,  Thacher,  for  the  assertion. 

Thacher  (''American  Medical  Biography")  has  called  attention 
to  the  cultivation  of  medical  literature  in  New  York  as  a  special 
feature  of  the  intense  interest  of  members  of  the  profession  here 
in  their  practice.  This  served  to  secure  proper  publicity  for  ob- 
servations and  fostered  at  the  same  time  the  habit  of  exact  ob- 
servation so  likely  to  follow  the  thought  that  the  observed  results 
are  to  furnish  material  for  medical  articles.  He  gives  a  list  of 
the  medical  journals  that  were  founded  here  during  the  first  fifty 
years  of  American  Independence,  which  is  probably  as  complete 
as  could  be  made  in  a  brief  space. 

The  State  of  New  York  has  furnished  a  full  portion  of  learned  and 
scientific  professors,  lecturers  and  teachers,  by  whose  labors  medical  litera- 
ture and  science  have  flourished  and  been  extensively  diffused.  From  this 
source,  also,  medical  and  philosophical  works  of  sterling  worth  have 
emanated,  which  have  received  approbation  and  applause  in  various  foreign 
countries.  The  periodical  journals  on  medicine  and  the  collateral  branches 
of  science,  which  have  appeared  in  New  York  at  different  times,  have 
been  the  following: 

"The  Medical  Repository,"  first  projected  in  1798,  and  the  earliest 

336 


PHYSICIAN  WRITERS 


337 


journal  which  was  issued  in  this  country  in  this  department  of  learning; 
its  editors  were  Drs.  Mitchill,  Miller  and  Smith.  It  has  been  extended  to 
twenty-three  volumes  by  subsequent  editors. 

"The  New  York  Medical  and  Philosophical  Journal,"  commenced  in 
1809,  and  published  anonymously, — three  volumes. 

"The  Medical  Magazine,"  by  Drs.  Mott  and  Onderdonk;  it  terminated 
with  the  publication  of  one  volume. 

"The  American  Medical  and  Philosophical  Register,"  edited  by  Drs. 
Hosack  and  Francis;  it  began  in  1810,  and  was  terminated  in  1814.  The 
four  volumes  which  it  embraced  are  composed  exclusively  of  original  ma- 
terials; and  these  can  safely  be  referred  to  for  many  papers  of  great 
value  on  medical  and  surgical  subjects,  as  well  as  for  biographical  mem- 
oirs of  American  physicians,  and  detailed  accounts  of  most  of  the  public 
and  literary  associations  for  which  New  York  is  so  much  distinguished. 

The  last  periodical,  which  still  exists,  is  the  "New  York  Medical  and 
Philosophical  Journal";  it  was  begun  in  1822  by  Professor  Francis  and 
Drs.  Dyckman  and  Beck;  a  volume  appears  annually. 

The  "Transactions  of  the  New  York  Literary  and  Philosophical  So- 
ciety" contain  various  papers  on  medical  subjects,  and  the  collections  of 
the  New  York  Historical  Society  may  be  referred  to  for  similar  topics. 

American  physicians  not  infrequently,  besides  being  interested 
in  their  professional  work,  have  followed  some  hobby  or  other  of 
an  intellectual  character,  and  not  a  few  of  them  have  as  an  avoca- 
tion worshipped  at  the  shrine  of  the  muses.  New  York  has 
probably  more  than  her  share  of  physician  writers.  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes  once  said  that  literature  made  a  good  cane  for  ornamental 
purposes  or  occasionally  to  lean  on  slightly  at  moments  when  life 
was  tiresome,  but  that  it  made  a  very  poor  crutch  if  one  had  to 
depend  on  it  for  support.  He  added  that  so  far  as  possible  a 
literary  man  should  always  have  some  other  occupation,  and  also, 
so  far  as  possible,  he  should  devj^te  himself  exclusively  to  that 
other  occupation.  Boston's  medical  sage  did  not  follow  his  own 
advice,  but  then  physicians  are  not  noted  always  for  following  their 
own  advice,  and  in  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes'  case  we  may  rejoice 
that  he  did  not. 

The  same  spirit  of  rejoicing  may  be  permitted  with  regard  to 
a  number  of  physician  writers  in  New  York,  for  they  have  helped 
to  make  the  history  of  humanity  more  complete.  The  physician 
has  a  viewpoint  of  his  own  that  is  likely  to  make  his  reflections  on 
men  and  their  ways  interesting  to  the  generality  of  men,  and  sure 
to  make  them  attract  the  attention  of  physicians  in  his  own  and 
subsequent  generations.   Here  in  New  York  we  have  had  no  rival 


338 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


to  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  in  literature,  and  yet  we  have  had 
a  number  of  medical  writers  whose  contributions  to  literature 
pleased  not  only  themselves  but  many  others  besides  their  friends, 
and  the  absence  of  which  would  have  left  a  noteworthy  gap  in  our 
sources  of  information  with  regard  to  older  times.  Some  of  these 
physician  writers  will  probably  be  recalled  by  future  generations, 
more  because  of  their  non-scientific  writings  than  for  what  they  did 
for  medicine,  though  probably  none  of  them  has  any  serious  claim 
to  literary  immortality. 

The  first  extra-medical  writing  of  any  importance  done  by  a 
physician  writer  in  New  York  came  from  that  distinguished  phy- 
sician whose  name  bulks  so  large  in  the  history  of  New  York  in 
the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, — Dr.  Cadwallader  Golden, 
usually  known  as  Governor  Golden.  He  wrote  the  ' '  History  of  the 
Five  Nations,"  the  first  story  of  the  Iroquois  written  in  English, 
which  is  still  often  referred  to,  and  is  even  claimed  to  be  the  best 
history  of  these  Indians  extant.  He  was  interested,  however,  not 
alone  in  history  but  in  pure  literature,  for  he  translated  the  let- 
ters of  Gicero,  and  according  to  tradition  wrote  a  number  of  short 
articles  on  lighter  themes.  Almost  more  than  his  personal  influ- 
ence as  a  writer  for  the  literature  and  science  of  the  time,  was  the 
fact  that  his  home  was  a  rendezvous  for  all  the  learned  men  of  the 
time,  and  his  greatest  pleasure  was  to  receive  them.  As  I  have  said 
in  the  chapter, ' '  Physician  Scientists, ' '  Franklin  acknowledged  that 
he  owed  the  idea  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society  to  Dr.  Gol- 
den, and  this  institution  meant  much  for  bringing  together  the  men 
who  were  doing  serious  thinking  in  America  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. 

One  of  the  early  physician  writers  of  New  York  State  whose 
literary  work  attracted  no  little  attention  and  whose  sad  fate  gave 
him  a  place  in  American  letters  not  unlike  that  of  Keats,  in  Eng- 
land, was  Dr.  Joseph  Rodman  Drake  (1795-1820),  who,  though 
bom  in  poverty  and  whose  boyhood  was  passed  under  circum- 
stances in  which  poetry  might  seem  to  have  little  appeal,  began 
very  early  to  show  signs  of  poetic  genius.  His  poem  on,  *'The 
Mocking  Bird,"  written  at  fourteen,  attracted  attention  to  him, 
and  he  was  afforded  the  opportunity  to  study  medicine  a  little 
later.  His  medical  studies  were  made  with  Dr.  Romayne  and 
afterwards  in  Europe.  He  returned  to  begin  practice  in  New  York 
in  1816,  but  in  spite  of  his  deep  interest  in  medicine  which  had 


PHYSICIAN  WRITERS 


339 


been  manifest  during  his  studies,  he  did  not  confine  his  interests 
to  his  profession,  but  continued  to  cultivate  the  muses.  His  best 
known  poem,  the  ''Culprit  Fay,"  was  written  in  1819.  The  idea 
for  it  is  said  to  have  originated  in  a  discussion  as  to  whether 
American  rivers  were  not  a  suitable  theme  for  romantic  treatment. 
With  Fitz  Greene  Halleck  he  published  the  "Croaker  Papers"  in 
the  Evening  Post,  and  their  humor  made  the  young  authors  the 
talk  of  the  town.  Unfortunately,  Drake  died  of  tuberculosis  at 
the  early  age  of  twenty-five.  It  was  as  a  threnody  for  him  that 
Halleck  wrote  the  verses  with  the  well-known  opening  line,  ' '  Green 
be  the  turf  above  thee."  On  his  return  from  Europe,  Dr.  Drake 
became  one  of  the  elegants  of  the  city,  and  was  dubbed  by  some 
of  his  friends  ' '  the  finest  gentleman  in  New  York ' '  for  his  courtly 
manners,  polished  abroad,  and  for  his  refined  taste  in  dress. 

Among  New  York's  physician  writers  of  the  nineteenth  century 
must  be  counted  Dr.  Macneven,  who  in  his  younger  years  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  Great  Britain  at  least  was 
very  much  interested  in  Ossian,  though  the  fame  of  the  old  Gaelic 
poet  had  spread  also  to  the  Continent,  translated  Ossian 's  poems 
from  the  Gaelic;  and  who  as  a  young  man  when  exiled  from  Ire- 
land wrote  an  account  of  some  wanderings  on  the  Continent  in  a 
book  with  the  title,  ''Rambles  in  Switzerland."  In  order  to  en- 
lighten Americans  as  to  the  conditions  which  obtained  in  Ireland 
under  English  rule,  and  which  had  caused  the  expatriation  of 
himself  and  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  and  Sampson  and  others,  he 
wrote  a  little  book  called  ' '  Pieces  of  Irish  History. ' '  He  knew  his 
German,  French  and  Italian  very  well,  and  as  he  kept  up  his 
acquaintance  with  them  constantly  by  wide  reading,  it  is  easy  to 
understand  that  he  became  a  valued  and  interesting  member  of 
the  literary  and  philosophical  societies  of  New  York  which  served 
to  bring  together  so  many  of  the  wits,  if  that  word  be  used  in  its 
broadest  significance,  of  men  of  intelligence  of  the  day.  He  was 
looked  up  to  almost  as  "a  miracle  of  information,"  as  one  of  his 
contemporaries  said. 

' '  The  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of  New  York ' '  wels  an 
interesting  institution  of  the  early  nineteenth  century  which  served 
the  very  excellent  purpose  of  bringing  together  men  of  many  pro- 
fessions who  had  a  community  of  interest  in  serious  thoughtfulness 
with  regard  to  the  underlying  problems  of  humanity,  or  similarity 
of  taste  with  regard  to  literary  and  artistic  subjects.  Probably 


340 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


there  is  no  other  way  in  which  the  experience  of  physicians  which 
means  so  much  on  social  questions  can  be  made  generally  available 
for  thinking  folk  outside  of  the  profession,  than  by  some  such  ex- 
pedient as  this  of  a  literary  and  philosophical  society  where  all 
may  meet  on  common  ground.  Unfortunately  New  York  City  has 
grown  so  large  as  to  make  such  an  institution  almost  impossible 
under  present  conditions. 

Fate  was  not  always  kind  to  physicians  with  literary  abilities 
and  aspirations  and  another  of  New  York's  early  physicians  who 
might  have  made  a  literary  reputation  of  distinction  for  himself, 
Dr.  Elihu  Hubbard  Smith,  shared  Dr.  Drake's  destiny  of  early 
death,  being  unfortunately  carried  off  in  one  of  our  recurrent  epi- 
demics of  yellow-fever  when  he  was  only  twenty-seven.  He  had 
been  the  intimate  friend  of  Charles  Brockden  Brown,  our  first 
ambitious  American  novelist  who  wrote  romances  of  the  type  of 
the  mystery  stories  of  ''Monk"  Lewis,  then  so  popular  in  England. 
Under  the  circumstances  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  the  young 
doctor  according  his  friend  that  sincerest  of  flattery, — imitation, 
and  dabbling  in  literature.  Dr.  Smith's  most  ambitious  literary 
production  was  the  libretto  of  an  opera  called  ''Edwin  and  Ange- 
lina, or  the  Banditti. "  He  is  usually  said  to  have  been  the  author 
of  "Andre,"  a  tragedy  in  five  acts,  which  was  performed  in  New 
York  the  year  after  his  death,  and  much  praised.  He  was  a  scholar 
in  his  tastes,  thoroughly  interested  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics, 
a  devoted  student  of  history,  and  his  example  is  said  to  have  had 
no  little  influence  in  turning  the  inte*rests  of  the  physicians  of  the 
time  from  too  exclusive  occupation  with  their  medical  problems. 

One  of  the  men  whose  name  probably  deserves  a  place  among 
New  York  literary  folk,  though  not  exactly  a  writer  himself,  was 
Dr.  John  Churchill  Osborn,  a  grandson  of  Dr.  John  Osborn,  a  Har- 
vard man  of  1735.  Dr.  Osborn  was  Professor  of  the  Institutes  of 
Medicine  and  of  Obstetrics  in  New  York  for  some  years  in  the 
schools  of  the  day,  and  he  was  on  intimate  terms  with  the  writers 
of  the  period.  After  the  untimely  death  of  Joel  Barlow  he  re- 
vised his  poems  for  publication,  at  a  time  when  Barlow's  name 
was  looked  upon  as  that  of  our  most  distinguished  poet  in  America. 

A  New  York  physician  who  though  not  a  writer  himself  helped 
greatly  in  making  books  attractive  and  added  not  a  little  to  the 
pleasure  of  life  for  a  large  number  of  people  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury in  America,  was  Alexander  Anderson,  the  pioneer  engraver 


PHYSICIAN  WRITERS 


341 


on  wood  in  this  country,  the  selftaught  founder  of  an  important 
artistic  development  in  America.  He  was  born  in  New  York  City, 
April  21st,  1775,  just  two  months  after  the  battle  of  Golden  Hill, 
in  New  York  City,  had  made  it  almost  definitely  certain  to  the 
Colonies  that  revolution  was  inevitable.  Dr.  Anderson's  father,  a 
hardheaded  Scotchman  of  strong  views,  was  firmly  convinced  that 
the  only  remedy  for  the  wrongs  of  the  colonists  was  rebellion 
against  England.  He  was  the  publisher  of  a  newspaper,  the 
Constitutional  Gazette,  which  advocated  a  policy  of  separation. 
When  in  1776  the  British  took  possession  of  New  York,  there  was, 
almost  needless  to  say,  no  room  for  such  a  fiery  patriot.  The  Scotch 
''rebel  printer"  had  to  fly,  taking  such  of  the  materials  of  his 
trade  with  him  as  he  could,  and  losing  many  of  them  before  he 
settled  in  safety  in  Connecticut.  His  son,  as  a  boy,  amused  himself 
with  imitating  the  engravings  in  some  medical  books  that  came  into 
his  hands,  and  copied  these  so  well  as  to  attract  his  father's  at- 
tention. He  gave  him  the  chance  to  study  medicine  at  Columbia 
College,  where  he  received  his  degree  of  M.D.  in  May,  1796,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one.  Dr.  Anderson  practised  medicine  for  sev- 
eral years,  but  all  his  family  being  attacked  with  yellow  fever 
and  he  alone  surviving,  he  visited  during  his  convalescence  a 
paternal  uncle,  Alexander  Anderson,  who  was  the  "King's  Botan- 
ist" at  St.  Vincent's,  and  became  deeply  interested  in  the  question 
of  the  illustration  of  books.  On  his  return  to  New  York  he  aban- 
doned medicine  for  engraving.  Learning  about  engraving  on  wood 
by  accident,  he  obtained  some  boxwood  from  a  rule  maker  and 
successfully  worked  out  the  technique  of  wood  engraving  for  him- 
self. For  over  sixty  years  Dr.  Anderson  continued  to  be  the  most 
popular  illustrator  of  books  in  the  country.  He  came  to  be  the 
personal  friend  of  many  of  the  prominent  literary  and  profes- 
sional men  in  New  York  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,, 
and  Washington  Irving  and  other  writers  of  note  thought  of  him 
as  a  dear  friend  as  well  as  their  collaborator  in  book-making.  His 
wood  engraving  stamps  him  as  one  of  the  men  who  had  most  to 
do  with  that  progressive  development  of  arts  and  crafts  in  America 
which  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  so  characteristically  American. 

Dr.  Samuel  Latham  Mitchill  deserves  a  place  among  our  phy- 
sician writers  in  New  York,  if  for  nothing  else  than  for  a  series 
of  published  addresses  on  all  manner  of  literary  and  scientific 
subjects  delivered  on  various  occasions  in  New  York.   One  of  these 


342 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


that  has  been  preserved  for  us  and  is  of  at  least  antiquarian  in- 
terest for  New  Yorkers  of  the  present  day,  was  delivered  before 
the  Tammany  Society,  or  Columbian  Order  of  New  York,  in  1795.^ 

Dr.  John  Watson  made  one  of  the  early  American  contributions 
to  the  history  of  medicine  by  the  publication  of  his  anniversary  dis- 
course delivered  before  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  No- 
vember 7th,  1855,  on  ''The  Medical  Profession  in  Ancient  Times." 
As  a  book  of  over  two  hundred  pages,  it  gives  an  excellent  review 
of  the  history  of  medicine  from  what  was  then  known  about  Indian 
and  Egyptian  medicine  down  to  the  time  of  Justinian.  It  is 
something  of  a  surprise  to  come  upon  this  monograph  of  a  busy 
New  York  surgeon  of  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
the  fact  that  he  was  asked  to  give  the  anniversary  discourse 
on  such  a  subject  shows  a  breadth  of  interest  much  wider  than 
might  be  expected. 

One  of  the  serious  physician  writers  of  New  York  whose  books 
were  widely  read  throughout  the  world  and  translated  into  most 
of  the  modern  languages  was  Professor  John  William  Draper, 
known  to  physicians  for  his  text  book  on  ' '  Human  Physiology, ' '  but 
to  the  philosophical  and  scientific  world  for  his  "History  of  the 
Intellectual  Development  in  Europe,"  and  his  ''Conflict  between 
Science  and  Religion. ' '  His  ' '  History  of  the  American  Civil  War ' ' 
attracted  wide  attention  in  this  country,  and  his  ' '  Thoughts  on  the 
Future  Civil  Policy  of  America"  was  scarcely  less  well  known. 
His  "History  of  the  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe"  had  its 
first  edition  in  1852,  being  translated  into  French,  German,  Italian, 
Polish  and  Russian,  in  the  next  few  years.  The  book  passed 
through  many  editions  in  this  country  and  also  in  England.  His 
"Conflict  between  Science  and  Religion"  was  even  more  popular. 
It  formed  the  mental  attitude  of  most  professors  of  science  toward 
religious  matters  during  the  last  generation  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. It  was  accorded  the  privilege  of  publication  in  the  ' '  Interna- 
tional Scientific  Series"  in  company  with  the  classics  on  science 
of  that  time,  and  was  thought  to  present  the  last  word  on  this 
subject. 

^ ' '  The  Life,  Exploits  and  Precepts  of  Tammany,  the  Famous  Indian  Chief, 
being  the  Anniversary  Oration  pronounced  before  the  Tammany  Society  or 
Columbian  Order  by  Samuel  Latham  Mitchill,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Nat- 
ural History  and  Agriculture,  in  the  College  of  New  York"  (New  York, 
1795).  The  address  is  very  rare,  but  a  copy  of  it  is  in  the  New  York  Acad- 
emy of  Medicine.  It  contains  a  number  of  interesting  hints  with  regard 
to  Indian  archaeology  in  America. 


PHYSICIAN  WRITERS 


343 


Dr.  Draper  had  the  misfortune  to  live  just  before  the  great 
flood  of  knowledge  with  regard  to  the  Middle  Ages  began  to  be 
poured  into  modern  thought.  Living  at  a  time  when  our  own 
architecture  was  at  a  very  low  ebb,  when,  as  the  historian  of 
hospitals  has  said,  our  hospitals  were  like  jails,  and  when  our 
surgery  was  extremely  limited,  it  was  very  hard  for  him  to  appre- 
ciate the  magnificent  accomplishments  of  what  had  been  called  ' '  the 
Dark  Ages."  We  were  in  the  midst  of  our  own  Dark  Ages,  and 
the  significance  of  the  older  time  was  eclipsed  by  that  fact.  The 
development  of  the  history  of  surgery,  of  hospitals,  of  architecture, 
and  of  education,  has  given  a  very  different  background  for  judg- 
ment as  to  the  course  of  the  intellectual  development  of  Europe. 
There  is  a  period  of  several  centuries  before  our  time  when  an 
unfortunate  decadence  in  human  intellectual ,  achievement,  very 
hard  to  explain,  took  place.  Judged  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
knowledge  of  his  time,  Draper  made  a  magnificent  synthesis  as  a 
background  for  the  philosophy  of  history.  Hence  the  enthusiastic 
welcome  accorded  his  books  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  so 
that  as  regards  serious  books,  at  least,  he  was  one  of  the  first  Ameri- 
can writers  to  contradict  Sydney  Smith's  famous  question,  ''Who 
anywhere  reads  an  American  book?" 

A  physician  whose  writings  apart  from  his  professional  work 
have  probably  been  of  greater  help  to  general  historians  of  New 
York  than  most  others  of  his  time,  was  Dr.  John  W.  Francis,  Pro- 
fessor of  the  Institutes  of  Medicine  and  of  Forensic  Medicine,  as 
well  as  later  of  Obstetrics,  of  the  College  of  Physicians.  He  occu- 
pied the  same  chairs  at  Rutgers  Medical  College,  New  York  City, 
after  the  resignation  of  the  faculty  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  led  to  the  organization  of  that  institution.  His  ' '  Old 
New  York,  or  Reminiscences  of  the  Past  Sixty  Years,"  is  well 
known  and  frequently  referred  to  for  details  of  the  intellectual 
and  artistic  life  of  the  New  York  of  his  time.  This  was  an  en- 
larged and  revised  edition  of  the  ''Anniversary  Discourse"  de- 
livered before  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  November  17th, 
1857. 

In  the  preface  to  this.  Dr.  Francis  notes  with  regret  that  New 
York  has  been  particularly  unfortunate  in  not  having  writers  who 
cared  to  devote  themselves  to  preserving  historical  details  of  the 
city's  life.  He  was  among  the  first  to  call  emphatic  attention  to 
the  fact  that  owing  to  the  interest  of  New  England  writers  in  their 


344 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


own  people  and  region,  the  part  taken  by  these  had  been  given  a 
disproportionate  share  in  the  history  of  the  country,  and  the  his- 
tory of  their  activities  in  the  Revolutionary  times  had  been  as- 
signed a  significance  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  reality.  While 
the  smallest  New  England  town  has  full  annals,  New  York  State 
and  City  have  only  fragmentary  and  meagre  chronicles  to  describe 
the  scenes  and  characters  of  her  history.  Francis  quotes  Gouver- 
neur  Morris  as  ''eloquently  asserting  the  claim  of  New  York  to 
original  and  instinctive  aspirations  for  liberty,  a  fact  which  some 
of  our  Eastern  brethren,  those  prolific  votaries  of  the  pen,  have 
either  ignored  or  traced  to  a  Puritan  origin. ' ' 

Dr.  Emmet  in  our  time  has  recalled  the  fact  that  the  first  blood 
shed  in  the  Revolution  was  not  that  of  the  Boston  Massacre,  but 
that  of  the  battle  of  Golden  Hill,  which  took  place  nearly  two 
months  before  the  Boston  incident,  which,  as  Miss  Mary  L.  Booth 
says  in  her  ''History  of  the  City  of  New  York,"  "has  been  glori- 
fied and  perpetuated  in  historj^  though  it  was  second  both  in  date 
and  in  significance  to  the  New  York  Battle  of  Golden  Hill."  The 
first  ' '  Tea  Party ' '  was  organized  in  New  York,  and  New  York  took 
at  least  as  important  a  part  in  the  preliminaries  which  led  up  to 
the  Revolution  as  did  New  England.  Dr.  Francis  began  the  vindi- 
cation of  his  townsmen  in  this  regard  and  quotes  Gouverneur  Mor- 
ris' expression  as  to  New  Yorkers:  "Children  of  commerce,  we 
were  rocked  in  the  cradle  of  war,  and  sucked  the  principles  of 
liberty  with  our  mothers'  milk." 

While  so  much  occupied  with  his  own  education  and  interested 
in  general  as  well  as  medical  literature,  he  took  his  professional 
work  very  seriously  and  succeeded  in  creating  an  excellent  prac- 
tice. It  is  on  record  that  in  1820,  nine  years  after  his  graduation, 
his  receipts  were  $15,000.  In  days  when  fees  were  ever  so  much 
less  than  they  are  at  present,  and  single  large  fees  very  excep- 
tional, the  making  of  such  a  large  sum  in  general  practice  indicates 
a  close  attention  to  the  calls  of  duty.  Besides  his  Professorship  of 
the  Institutes  of  Medicine,  he  occupied,  as  we  have  said,  the  chair 
of  Medical  Jurisprudence  and  later  was  the  Professor  of  Obstet- 
rics. Manifestly  his  general  practice  included  everj^thing,  and  he 
was  supposed  to  be  well  versed  in  all  his  medical  work  and  doubt- 
less also  minor  surgery,  though  we  hear  nothing  of  major  surgery. 

Francis  was  one  of  the  group  of  men,  all  of  them  his  close,  inti- 
mate friends — Hosack,  Mott,  Mitchill  and  Macneven,  who  resigned 


PHYSICIAN  WRITERS 


345 


from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  when  they  could  no 
longer  brook  interference  from  non-medical  trustees  and  organized 
Rutgers  Medical  College  in  New  York  City.  In  this,  Francis  took 
over  the  chairs  of  Obstetrics  and  Forensic  Medicine,  which  he  had 
held  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  With  the  sup- 
pression of  Rutgers  by  the  New  York  Legislature,  Francis'  teach- 
ing career  came  to  an  end.  After  this  he  devoted  himself  to  his 
practice.  Francis  lived  to  be  past  seventy,  dying  just  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Civil  War  in  1861.  He  came  to  occupy  a  promi- 
nent place  in  New  York  life  as  a  patron  of  art  and  literature,  and 
was  the  physician  by  choice  of  a  number  of  the  prominent  actors, 
so  that  his  recollections  include  details  of  his  personal  relations 
with  Edmund  Kean,  Charles  Matthews,  William  C.  Macready,  Gar- 
cia the  singer,  Lorenzo  Da  Ponte  the  musician,  as  well  as  accounts 
of  his  connection  with  artists  and  clubs  in  the  New  York  City  of 
the  mid-nineteenth  century. 

A  man  who  will  probably  be  recalled  oftener  because  of  his  writ- 
ings than  many  another  physician  of  more  distinction  in  his  pro- 
fession in  his  generation,  is  Samuel  Ward  Francis,  whose  bio- 
graphical sketches  of  distinguished  living  New  York  surgeons  and 
living  New  York  physicians  (New  York,  1866-67)  have  preserved 
so  much  information  for  us  with  regard  to  his  contemporaries  that 
would  otherwise  have  been  lost.  He  was  the  son  of  John  Wake- 
field Francis,  and  came  by  his  writing  tendencies  very  naturally. 
He  took  his  literary  degrees  of  A.B.  and  A.M.  from  Columbia  Col- 
lege, but  his  M.D.  in  1860  from  New  York  University.  For  a  time 
he  practised  in  New  York  City,  and  was  physician  in  attendance 
at  the  New  York  Dispensary.  Later  on  he  moved  to  Newport,  and 
it  was  there  that  his  death  took  place  at  the  early  age  of  fifty-one. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  physician  writers  of  New 
York,  though  his  name  is  comparatively  little  known  outside  the 
circle  of  historians  and  special  students  of  history,  for  he  accumu- 
lated historical  matter  rather  than  wrote  actual  history,  was  Ed- 
mund Bailey  O'Callaghan,  born  at  Mallow,  Cork,  Ireland,  1797, 
and  died  in  New  York,  1880.  He  was  educated  in  Paris,  and 
received  his  degree  in  medicine  there  when  he  was  about  twenty- 
seven.  At  the  age  of  thirty-three  he  settled  in  Montreal  and  began 
the  practice  of  medicine.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  Canadian 
national  patriotic  movement,  and  in  1836  was  elected  to  the  Pro- 
vincial Parliament.   He  played  a  leading  role  with  Papineau  in  the 


346 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


unsuccessful  insurrection  of  1837,  and,  accused  of  treason,  fled  to 
the  United  States,  where  he  took  up  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
Albany,  but  also  edited  The  Northern  Light,  an  industrial  journal. 
His  interest  in  rent  and  land  problems  led  him  to  study  the  land 
rights  of  the  Patroons.  To  do  this  more  completely  he  made  him- 
self master  of  the  Dutch  language  and  found  that  he  had  under 
his  hands  historical  materials  of  great  value  in  the  State  Archives. 
He  published  the  first  volume  of  his  ' '  History  of  the  New  Nether- 
land"  in  1846,  and  ten  years  later  began  the  issue  of  the  ''Docu- 
mentary History  of  New  York"  in  eleven  volumes  quarto  (1855- 
61),  which  are  his  monument.  In  1848  O'Callaghan  was  made 
Keeper  of  the  Historical  Manuscripts  of  New  York  State,  a  position 
that  he  filled  for  twenty -two  years. 

In  1870  0  'Callaghan  came  to  New  York  City  and  undertook  the 
task  of  editing  the  municipal  documents.  Unfortunately,  political 
difficulties  over  the  appropriations  necessary  for  this  left  0 'Cal- 
laghan's  work  unpublished.  In  the  meantime  he  had  published  his 
well-known  "List  of  the  Editions  of  The  Holy  Scriptures  and 
Parts  Thereof  Printed  in  America  Previous  to  1860,"  which  was 
dedicated  to  Mr.  James  Lenox,  the  book  collector.  0  'Callaghan  had 
been  the  source  of  many  suggestions  to  Mr.  Lenox,  and  above  all 
it  was  because  of  his  recognition  of  their  value  that  Mr.  Lenox's 
famous  collection  of  the  "Jesuit  Relations"  was  made.  In  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  0  'Callaghan  .gave  up  medicine  entirely  for 
his  historical  work,  but  in  Albany  he  had  been  the  secretary  of 
the  Albany  Medical  Society  and  did  some  excellent  work  for  the 
profession.  His  published  works  are  some  forty  in  number,  and 
the  last  of  them,  "Records  of  New  Amsterdam,  1653-74,"  trans- 
lated by  O'Callaghan,  were  published  by  Berthold  Femon  (New 
York,  1897). 

Probably  the  New  York  physician  who  attracted  the  most  at- 
tention for  his  writing  apart  from  medicine  during  the  nineteenth 
century,  was  William  A.  Hammond,  Surgeon  General  of  the  United 
States  during  the  Civil  War,  and  the  subsequently  well-known 
specialist  in  nervous  and  mental  diseases.  He  wrote  extensively 
on  medical  problems,  as  I  have  noted  elsewhere,  and  also  a  num- 
ber of  articles  on  the  borderland  of  medicine,  of  social  and  psycho- 
logical interests ;  but  besides  these  he  wrote  a  series  of  novels  and 
plays.  During  some  fifteen  years  at  the  end  of  the  century  he 
wrote  six  novels,  each  of  which  in  turn  attracted  wide  attention 


PHYSICIAN  WRITERS 


347 


and,  indeed,  the  first  one  written  in  1884  under  the  brief  name 
' '  Lai ' '  met  with  a  success  so  definite  and  emphatic  "  as  to  provoke 
in  some  quarters,"  as  Dr.  Lancaster  suggested  in  his  sketch  of 
Hammond,  'Hhe  resentful  question  as  to  what  right  so  prosperous 
a  practitioner  of  medicine  had  to  stray  from  physic  to  fancy  and 
from  surgery  to  sentiment."  Each  one  of  his  novels  after  this, 
' '  A  Strong  Minded  Woman,  or  Two  Years  Later, ' '  which  was  called 
a  sequel  to  ''Lai,"  "Dr.  Grattan,"  the  only  one  of  the  series  in 
whose  title  Dr.  Hammond  inserted  a  professional  prefix,  "Mr. 
Oldmixon, ' '  which  some  considered  his  best,  down  to  ' '  The  Son  of 
Perdition,"  which  has  for  its  protagonist  Judas  Iscariot,  were 
looked  for  eagerly  when  announced,  and  were  among  the  best 
sellers  in  New  York,  at  least  in  their  day.  They  were  not  destined 
to  live,  but  then  there  is  some  doubt  whether  any  novel  written 
since  George  Meredith  laid  down  his  pen  is  to  endure,  and  a  com- 
mittee of  novelists  selecting  their  favorite  novels  a  short  while  ago 
the  average  date  of  them  was  1820.  The  novel  as  a  mode  of  litera- 
ture was  already  declining  when  Dr.  Hammond  took  it  up,  and 
only  a  supreme  literary  genius  could  have  broken  the  descent. 
Hammond's  novels  represent  very  nearly  the  same  sort  of  literary 
work  as  those  of  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchill,  though  perhaps  having 
less  of  dilettantism  about  them,  and  probing  a  little  bit  deeper  into 
human  nature,  yet  lacking  something  of  the  literary  finish  of  his 
Philadelphia  contemporary's  work.  The  experiences  of  both  men 
as  physicians  necessarily  entered  into  their  novels,  and  yet  not  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  them  studies  merely  of  morbidity  or  of 
pathological  conditions.  After  all,  ' '  Hamlet ' '  and  ' '  Don  Quixote, ' ' 
the  two  greatest  characters  of  fiction  ever  invented,  are  both  of 
more  than  dubious  mentality.  Dr.  Hammond  had  a  good  fund  of 
humor  which  found  its  way  into  his  pages,  and  a  satirical  sense 
that  enabled  him  to  hit  hard  many  a  social  abuse  that  deserved 
to  be  satirized. 

Hammond's  work  in  the  borderland  between  medicine  and  psy- 
chology was  probably  of  more  lasting  significance  than  his  novels, 
though  only  too  few  know  what  magnificent  reviews  of  important 
subjects  in  this  borderland  Hammond  made.  His  study  of  "Fast- 
ing Girls ' '  is  full  of  information  not  easy  to  obtain  elsewhere.  His 
monographs  on  subjects  related  to  spiritualism  deserve  to  be  read 
by  any  one  who  wants  to  understand  that  movement  and  its  rela- 
tion to  medicine  and  religion  as  well  as  psychology.  Hammond  had 


348 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


seen  the  time  when  there  were  probably  as  many  spiritualists  in 
proportion  to  the  population  as  there  are  Eddyites  at  the  present 
moment.  Their  temples  were  in  nearly  every  large  town,  espe- 
cially here  in  the  East,  and  they  "had  spread  from  America  to 
Europe  as  a  definite  religious  cult.  They  have  gone.  Hammond 's 
studies  of  them  from  the  standpoint  of  a  contemporary  deserve  to 
be  recalled  whenever  a  proper  understanding  of  the  significance  of 
that  movement  is  desired. 

Occasionally,  when  men  did  not  think  of  themselves  as  writers 
and  made  no  ambitious  effort  toward  their  publication,  manuscript 
materials  have  been  found  that  have  been  published  after  their 
death  which  proved  that  they  possessed  the  ability,  had  they  had  the 
time  and  the  inclination,  probably  to  make  a  mark  as  writers.  The 
''War  Letters,"  for  instance,  of  Dr.  William  Thompson  Lusk,  re- 
veal the  writings  of  a  young  man  between  the  ages  of  twenty-three 
and  twenty-five  years,  with  literary  abilities  of  a  high  order.  They 
hand  down  a  story  of  heroism  written  from  the  heart  of  the  activi- 
ties of  the  great  drama  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  by  one  of  those 
who  took  a  most  active  part,  that  form  a  precious  piece  of  docu- 
mentary history.  It  is  not  surprising  that  as  a  physician  he  should 
have  written  much,  since  manifestly  his  powers  of  expression  were 
of  high  rank.  The  valedictory  address  delivered  on  his  graduation 
from  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College  in  1864  and  published  in 
connection  with  the  ''War  Letters"  (New  York,  privately  printed, 
1911),  is  much  more  mature  than  such  academic  addresses  usually 
are,  and  now  after  more  than  fifty  years  is  well  worth  reading. 

At  least  one  of  the  women  physicians  of  New  York,  Dr.  Mary 
Putnam  Jacobi,  deserves  a  place  among  our  medical  writers.  At 
the  memorial  meeting  held  in  honor  of  Dr.  Putnam  Jacobi,  at  the 
New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  January  14th,  1907,  one  of  the 
speakers  was  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  who  had  been  for  many  years 
editor  of  The  Century,  and  one  of  the  leading  literary  critics  of 
New  York.  He  said  with  regard  to  one  of  her  essays,  "Some  of 
the  French  Leaders :  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  Fourth  of 
September,"  which  was  published  in  the  old  Scribner's  (the  prede- 
cessor of  The  Century)  for  August,  1871,  therefore  not  long  after 
the  founding  of  the  third  French  Republic,  that  it  was  ' '  one  of  the 
ablest  ever  printed  in  an  American  magazine."  He  added,  "It  is 
hard  to  see  how  any  one  can  read  it  without  being  impressed  by 
its  intellectual  grasp,  its  clarity,  its  grim  and  elucidating  wit." 


PHYSICIAN  WRITERS 


349 


He  gives  some  examples  particularly  of  this  latter  quality  of  hers 
which  illustrate  very  well  how  keenly  she  had  observed  not  only 
things  medical  but  things  political,  that  might  be  supposed  quite 
distant  from  her  interests  while  she  was  making  her  medical  stud- 
ies in  Paris.  As  I  have  said,  long  before  this,  when  she  was  but 
sixteen,  she  wrote  a  story  called  "Found  and  Lost,"  which  im- 
pressed her  father  as  worth  publishing,  and  it  was  accepted  by 
the  Atlantic  Monthly  and  published  in  April,  1860.  A  subsequent 
story,  "A  Sermon  at  Notre  Dame,"  published  in  Putnam's  Monthly 
for  1869,  also  met  with  Mr.  Gilder's  commendation.  He  did  not 
hesitate  even  to  say  that  in  her  devotion  to  medicine  and  with  it 
that  real  dread  of  which  she  once  spoke,  of  becoming  a  literary 
physician,  which  she  felt  would  ruin  her  medical  usefulness, 
* '  perhaps  we  lost  an  essayist  of  rank,  perhaps  a  writer  of  American 
romance,  of  the  learning  and  high  seriousness  of  George  Eliot. 
This  can  never  be  known. ' '  He  felt  that  Mary  Putnam  Jacobi  was 
' '  one  of  the  nobility,  one  of  the  ideals,  of  our  later  times,  to  be  hap- 
pily grouped  in  memory  and  honor  with  Alice  Freeman  Palmer,  with 
Josephine  Shaw  Lowell,  and  the  like  of  them,  living  and  dead." 

Another  of  the  physicians  whose  writings  on  historical  subjects 
will  probably  give  him  a  place  in  the  memory  of  American  biblio- 
philes at  least  for  generations,  and  whose  collection  of  Americana 
will  probably  secure  him  lasting  fame,  was  Thomas  Addis  Emmet, 
the  gynaecologist.  As  I  write,  he  is  still  with  us,  over  ninety  years 
of  age,  and  his  work  can  be  estimated  very  clearly.  His  historical 
writings  on  ''The  Emmet  Family,"  ''Irish  under  English  Rule," 
and  his  "Autobiography,"  are  full  of  precious  historical  matter 
that  will  be  of  value  to  the  future  historian,  and  that  have  made 
available  an  immense  amount  of  information  with  regard  to  the 
relations  of  England  and  Ireland,  which  in  the  world-democracy  to 
come  will  surely  serve  the  purpose  of  making  clear  how  sadly  Ire- 
land has  lacked  anything  like  the  opportunity  for  her  people  to 
secure  happiness.  Undoubtedly  in  the  reorganization  impending, 
the  immense  amount  of  labor  required  for  the  collection  of  this  ma- 
terial will  not  only  prove  not  to  have  been  wasted,  but  to  have 
been  time  preciously  spent. 

Dr.  Emmet,  however,  will  probably  be  known  by  future  genera- 
tions for  his  collection  of  Americarm,  that  is,  of  documents  of 
all  kinds  relating  to  American  history.  Very  early  in  life  he  be- 
came interested  in  the  manuscript  materials  of  history  and  began 
to  accumulate  documents  of  all  kinds.    Time,  labor,  money,  were 


350 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


spent  unstintingly  in  bringing  them  together,  arranging,  and  giv- 
ing expert  attention  to  them.  Eventually  Dr.  Emmet  came  to  have 
one  of  the  greatest  collections  of  "Americana"  in  the  country,  and 
the  greatest  in  private  hands.  Mr.  Kennedy,  who  had  succeeded 
Mr.  Lenox  as  the  patron  of  the  Lenox  Library,  succeeded  in  tempt- 
ing Dr.  Emmet  to  allow  him  to  share  in  the  expense  of  the  collec- 
tion on  condition  that  under  the  combined  names  of  Kennedy  and 
Emmet  it  should  be  placed  in  the  Lenox  Library.  With  the  com- 
bination of  the  Lenox,  Astor  and  Tilden  Foundations  this  collec- 
tion finds  its  way  into  the  New  York  Public  Library,  of  which  it  is 
one  of  the  special  treasures. 

One  of  our  best  known  American  medical  journalists  in  New 
York,  who  was  also  a  distinguished  surgeon,  was  George  Frederick 
Shrady  (1837-1907).  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons  of  New  York,  and  was  afterwards  an  interne 
of  the  New  York  Hospital.  He  was  associate  medical  editor  of  the 
American  Medical  Times,  and  attracted  no  little  attention  through 
that  medium  during  the  Civil  War.  He  was  founder  and  editor- 
in-chief  of  the  Medical  Record,  a  position  which  he  continued  to 
occupy  until  his  death  nearly  fifty  years  later.  He  made  that 
journal  a  representative  medium  of  clinical  and  professional  work. 
He  has  left  a  series  of  articles  on  surgical  subjects  including  par- 
ticularly his  ''Surgical  and  Pathological  Reflections  on  President 
Garfield's  Wound,"  published  in  1881,  and  his  account  of  ''The 
Surgical  and  Pathological  Aspects  of  General  Grant's  Case,"  pub- 
lished in  1895.  He  was  for  many  years  the  medical  editor  of  the 
New  York  Herald,  and  did  not  a  little  to  revolutionize  the  aspects 
of  American  newspaper  medicine  by  eliminating  many  of  the  ab- 
surdities of  the  newspaper  comment  on  medical  subjects,  and  mak- 
ing a  beginning  of  an  intelligent  public  opinion  with  regard  to  ad- 
vances in  medicine. 

A  medical  historical  writer  of  no  inconsiderable  significance  in 
this  country  was  Dr.  John  Shrady,  the  brother  of  Dr.  George 
Shrady,  a  modest  practitioner  of  medicine  in  New  York  City,  who 
gave  much  time  to  the  collection  of  old  historical  material.  In  this 
way  he  saved  many  important  details  of  medical  history  from 
being  lost.  Dr.  Shrady  edited  the  "History  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  New  York,"  which  contains  much  of 
New  York  City's  medical  history  and  the  autobigraphies  of  the 
living  faculty  and  alumni. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 


MEDICAL  EDUCATION  OUTSIDE  NEW  YORK  CITY 

WHILE,  as  Dr.  Samuel  Latham  Mitchill  suggested  in  his  ad- 
dress, ''Reminiscences  of  Medical  Education  in  New 
York,"  medical  schools  are  almost  inevitably  bound  to  be 
situated  in  large  cities  because  of  the  greater  facilities  and  oppor- 
tunities for  clinical  teaching  to  be  found  there,  several  of  New 
York's  early  medical  schools  which  attained  considerable  success 
were  founded  in  small  towns,  and  some  whose  history  is  worth  pre- 
serving existed  outside  the  metropolis.  One  of  these  whose  history 
is  very  interesting  and  of  special  significance  was  established  in  the 
early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  at  Fairfield,  a  small  town  of 
Herkimer  county,  not  far  from  Utica. 

THE  COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS,  WESTERN  DISTRICT, 

FAIRFIELD 

The  story  of  this  Western  New  York  Medical  College  is  inter- 
esting not  only  because  it  serves  to  show  how  carefully  New  York 
State  over  one  hundred  years  ago  tried  to  provide  medical  educa- 
tion for  those  for  whom  the  difficulties  of  travel,  which  were 
very  great  in  those  days,  and  the  expense  of  living  in  very  large 
centres  of  population,  would  have  made  the  securing  of  proper 
medical  training  almost  impossible.  Dr.  L.  B.  Wells  contributed 
an  interesting  paper  on  the  Fairfield  Medical  College  to  the 
Oneida  Historical  Society  at  a  meeting  held  in  Utica  in  1890. 
This  is  probably  the  best  available  source  of  information  with 
regard  to  the  Fairfield  school.  This  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  of  the  Western  District  of  the  State  of  New  York,  as 
it  was  formally  called,  was  established  by  the  trustees  of  the 
Fairfield  Academy  in  1809,  and  as  the  institution  at  Fairfield 
was  known  to  be  serious  in  its  educational  purposes,  the  medical 
school  opened  under  the  most  favorable  auspices.  By  repre- 
sentations of  the  necessity  for  encouraging  medical  teaching  in  the 

351 


352 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


western  part  of  the  State  and  the  need  for  fostering  home  educa- 
tional institutions,  the  Legislature  was  brought  to  make  a  grant 
of  $5,000  to  the  new  institution  in  the  second  year  of  its  exist- 
ence.  This  served  to  equip  the  new  school  very  well  for  those  days. 

Three  years  after  its  foundation,  on  June  1,  1812,  a  charter 
was  granted  to  the  school  as  a  medical  college,  and  an  additional 
grant  of  $10,000  was  made  to  it  by  the  State.  The  class  of  1812- 
1813,  as  appeared  by  the  records,  contained  eighteen  medical 
students.  At  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  trustees  held  December 
1,  1812,  the  following  officers  were  elected  for  the  college:  Dr. 
Lyman  Spaulding,  President  and  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Sur- 
gery; Dr.  "VVestel  Willoughby,  Jr.,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Obstetrics; 
James  H^dley,  A.M.,  Professor  of  Chemistry ;  John  Stearns,  M.D., 
Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physics.  Dr.  Westel  Willough- 
by was  subsequently  the  third  president  of  the  college,  and  Dr.  John 
Stearns,  who  had  been  very  prominent  in  the  foundation  of  the 
New  York  State  Medical  Society,  was  afterwards  the  founder  of 
the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine.  Early  in  1815,  Dr.  T. 
Romeyn  Beck  was  given  the  chair  of  Professor  of  the  Institutes  of 
Medicine.  He  gave  his  first  course  on  medical  jurisprudence  in 
the  following  year,  and  began  the  work  in  this  department  which 
was  to  attract  so  much  attention. 

Politics  entered  largely  into  the  organization  of  medical  schools, 
and  before  Fairfield  obtained  its  charter  there  was  question  of  a 
medical  school  being  established  though  influence  exercised  on 
the  Legislature  on  behalf  of  Oneida  County,  New  York.  J.  Noyes, 
L.  Spalding,  G.  C.  Shattuck  and  W.  Willoughby  were,  according 
to  a  letter  of  Dr.  Shattuck,  actually  selected  in  1812  to  have  places 
in  the  Oneida  school.  An  attempt  was  made  to  organize  this  school 
at  Clinton,  to  be  called  Hamilton  College,  and  the  location  of  it 
at  Clinton  seems  to  have  won  the  favor  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  then 
Lieutenant-Governor.  This  move  would  probably  have  put  an 
end  to  the  school  at  Fairfield,  but  eventually  the  attempt  was  not 
successful.^ 

^  As  illustrating  the  confused  condition  of  medical  education  in  this  coun- 
try in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  subsequent  career  of 
Dr.  Westel  Willoughby,  who  taught  at  Fairfield  for  a  number  of  years  and 
who  had  been  very  prominent  in  the  New  York  Medical  Society,  serving 
as  its  treasurer  and  vice-president,  is  interesting.  He  had  had  a  rather  varied 
career,  having  been  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  Newport,  New 
York,  serving  also  as  a  Member  of  Congress  for  a  term.    After  the  closing  of 


MEDICAL  EDUCATION  OUTSIDE  NEW  YORK  353 


**The  Ordinances  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of 
the  Western  District  of  The  State  of  New  York"  (pamphlet 
47,951  of  the  Library  of  The  Academy  of  Medicine  of  New  York), 
gives  an  excellent  idea  of  the  preliminary  requirements  and  the 
studies  in  the  medical  school  itself,  with  something  of  the  condi- 
tions under  which  the  Medical  School  was  conducted.  It  gives 
a  brief  history  of  the  college  up  to  that  time  in  a  single  paragraph. 
It  states  that  the  college  has  grown  out  of  a  medical  school  es- 
tablished by  the  trustees  of  Fairfield  Academy  in  1809.  It  then 
proceeds  after  the  manner  of  educational  institution  prospectuses 
generally,  to  state  the  prestige  which  it  has  secured  even  in  a  few 
years.  The  advantages  of  the  college  are  set  forth  by  Jonathan 
Sherwood,  Register,  though  there  is  a  note  that  ''For  further  in- 
formation a  reference  may  be  had  to  the  President  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  the  Register  at  Fairfield,  or  either  of  the  Trustees." 

The  board  of  trustees  had  twenty-four  members,  who  met  four 
times  a  year,  and  not  merely  the  two  that  might  seem  to  be  im- 
plied by  the  use  of  the  word  either  in  the  note.  The  announce- 
ment runs: 

The  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Western  District  has 
grown  out  of  the  Medical  School,  established  by  the  Trustees  of  Fair- 
field Academy,  in  1809.  The  reputation  which  this  school  acquired  for 
the  short  time  it  was  attached  to  the  Academy  is  well  known.  It  was  even 
such,  in  the  second  year  of  its  existence,  as  to  induce  the  honourable  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  to  endow  it  with  5,000  dollars;  and  when  it  re- 
ceived the  proud  rank  of  a  College,  they  generously  added  to  its  funds  the 
further  sum  of  10,000  dollars. 

The  Trustees  of  the  College  have  purchased  of  the  Academy,  a  stone 
edifice  63  feet  by  38  and  three  stories  high,  in  which  they  are  now  fitting 
up,  in  the  highest  style  of  convenience,  a  large  and  commodious  Anatomical 
Theatre,  with  a  Museum,  Dissecting  Rooms,  &c.,  &c.  The  Museum  is 
amply  sufficient  for  demonstrating  the  healthy  structure  of  every  part  of 
the  body,  and  even  many  of  its  parts  in  a  morbid  state.  Specimens  of 
Morbid  Anatomy  will  be  thankfully  received  for  the  Museum. 

The  Laboratory  is  undergoing  a  thorough  repair,  and  will  be  fitted  up 
in  a  style  of  great  convenience.  To  the  old  furniture  has  been  added  an 
extensive  collection  of  new  Chemical  Ware.  Mineralogical  specimens 
will  be  thankfully  received  for  the  Cabinet,  and  if  gentlemen  desire  an 
Analysis,  they  can  be  gratified. 

the  school  at  Fairfield  he  moved  to  the  town  of  Lake  Erie,  and  had  the  honor 
of  having  the  town  named  after  him.  He  established  a  medical  school  there, 
receiving  a  charter  for  it  from  the  State  of  Ohio,  the  charter  being  subse- 
quently used  for  a  school  in  Columbus. 


354 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


The  Professor  of  Obstetrics  has  been  furnished  with  a  good  ma- 
chine, &c. 

During  the  session  of  the  College,  advice  will  be  given  and  operations 
performed,  gratuitously,  in  all  Surgical  cases  at  Fairfield  or  its  imme- 
diate vicinity,  provided  the  class  can  be  present. 

With  all  these  advantages,  the  Trustees  and  Professors  humbly  hope 
to  continue  to  deserve  well  of  medical  students  and  of  the  public,  which 
is  the  height  of  their  ambition,  and  for  which  no  exertions  shall  be  want- 
ing- 

Jonathan  Sherwood,  Register. 

Fairfield,  May,  1813. 

On  January  30th,  1816,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  was 
conferred  on  two  individuals — Horatio  Orvis  and  Sylvester  Miller. 
This  date  for  the  conferring  of  degrees  seems  strangely  out  of 
place  for  us,  but  medical  commencements  have  during  the  past 
century  occurred  in  every  month  of  the  year  from  January  until 
June,  growing  later  constantly  as  time  went  on.  The  number  of 
the  students  at  the  college  increased  steadily  up  to  the  year  1834, 
when  there  were  217  in  all,  of  whom  55  received  the  degree  of 
M.D.  After  this  begins  a  decadence  of  the  school.  In  1835  the 
number  of  students  fell  below  200.  The  organization  of  the  med- 
ical department  of  Geneva  College  and  subsequently  the  incorpor- 
ation of  the  medical  college  in  the  city  of  Albany  conspired  with 
other  reasons  to  diminish  the  attendance  at  Fairfield.  The  lack 
of  clinical  facilities  in  this  small  town,  the  difficulties  of  travel 
which  led  Western  New  York  students  to  go  nearer  home  at 
Geneva,  the  prestige  of  the  capital  at  Albany, — these  were  all 
factors  in  the  gradual  decadence  of  Fairfield.  The  last  course  of 
lectures  was  given  during  the  winter  of  1839-40;  the  number  of 
students  was  105,  of  whom  26  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine.  After  the  cessation  of  medical  lectures,  the  college 
buildings  were  occupied  by  the  Fairfield  Academy. 

It  might  readily  be  imagined  that  standards  of  medical  educa- 
tion would  be  very  low  in  this  little  Western  New  York  town 
at  this  time.  They  were  undoubtedly  lower  than  was  good  for 
medical  practice  and  the  profession  of  medicine,  but  the  surprise 
is  to  find  how  high  the  fathers  in  medicine  of  over  a  century  ago 
tried  to  set  their  standards;  and,  above  all,  how  they  insisted 
on  a  good  preliminary  education.  This  provision  fell  into  very 
serious  neglect  in  the  medical  schools  of  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  though  now  we  have  come  to  appreciate  that  it  is 


MEDICAL  EDUCATION  OUTSIDE  NEW  YORK  355 


one  of  the  most  important  considerations  for  a  physician's  future. 
For  it  is  his  preliminary  education  that  enables  the  student  of 
medicine  to  comprehend  rather  than  learn  by  rote  what  is  pre- 
sented to  him  during  his  studies;  and  it  also  determines,  almost 
as  a  rule,  whether  he  shall  drop  into  a  rut  after  his  graduation, 
or  set  himself  on  the  road  of  progress. 

We  have  an  abstract  from  the  Ordinances  of  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons  of  the  Western  District  of  New  York  which 
supplies  information  as  to  standards  of  preliminary  education  and 
ideals  of  medical  study,  that  illustrates  better  than  anything  that 
could  be  said  the  effort  to  maintain  a  high  standard.  This  was 
the  announcement  of  the  College  as  sent  to  enquiring  prospective 
students. 

The  College  sessions  began  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  November, 
and  continued  for  three  months.  The  reason  for  selecting  this 
time  of  the  year  was  that  the  college  was  situated  in  the  midst 
of  a  farming  district,  and  the  students  had  to  be  at  their  homes 
both  for  the  harvest  and  the  winter  wheat  planting,  and  as  a  rule 
for  the  spring  planting.  The  preliminary  collegiate  education  or 
satisfactory  evidence  of  considerably  more  knowledge  than  is  re- 
quired by  the  demand  for  a  year,  and  perhaps  even  two  of  col- 
lege work,  is  of  particular  interest.  The  allowance  for  work  done 
at  other  colleges  and  the  arrangement  for  non-resident  professors 
show  clearly  that  the  faculty  was  trying  to  facilitate  high  class 
medical  education  at  this  time.    As  witness: 

AN  ABSTRACT 

From  the  Ordinances  of  The  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the 
Western  District. 

The  session  of  the  College  shall  commence,  annually,  on  the  first  Tues- 
day of  November,  and  continue  three  months. 

No  person  shall  be  admitted  to  an  examination,  for  the  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Medicine,  until  he  shall  have  produced  satisfactory  testimony  to 
the  President,  Vice-President,  and  Professors,  that  he  has  regularly  studied 
Physic  and  Surgery,  with  one  or  more  reputable  practitioner  or  prac- 
titioners, for  the  term  of  three  years;  and  that  he  has  attended  all  the 
medical  professors,  for  two  complete  sessions  of  this  College;  or  one  ses- 
sion in  this  College,  and  one  other  session  in  some  -other  College  or  Uni- 
versity. 

Every  person  who  shall  not  have  i^eceived  a  collegiate  education,  shall 
previously  to  his  examination  give  satisfactory  evidence  to  the  Presi- 
dent, Vice-President  and  Professors,  that  he  has  an  acquaintance  with  the 


356 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Latin  language,  that  be  possesses  a  correct  knowledge  of  English  gram-, 
mar,  natural  and  experimental  philosophy;  and  that  he  sustains  a  fair 
moral  character. 

The  public  examinations  shall  be  held,  annually,  on  the  Monday  next 
following  the  close  of  the  session,  before  the  President,  Vice-President, 
Professors  and  Trustees,  with  any  members  of  the  medical  faculty,  and 
such  other  literary  gentleman  as  may  choose  to  attend. 

Each  candidate  shall  be  examined  on  Anatomy,  Surgery,  and  Obstetrics, 
Chemistry,  Materia  Medica,  Mineralogy,  and  the  Institutes  of  Medicine; 
and  he  shall  at  the  same  time  read  and  defend  a  Thesis  on  some  medical 
subject.  Every  candidate  shall  have  a  right  to  select  the  subject  of  his 
Thesis,  but  the  Thesis  itself  must  have  been  examined  and  approbated  by 
the  Professors,  before  it  is  read.  Every  candidate  must  deliver  a  copy 
of  his  Thesis  to  the  Register  for  the  use  of  the  Trustees,  to  be  by  them 
presented  to  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  The  State  of  New  York. 

If  any  non-resident  Professor  cannot  be  present  at  the  public  examina- 
tion, he  may  examine  the  candidate  at  the  close  of  this  particular 
course,  on  the  branch  he  teaches. 

Each  candidate  shall  enroll  his  name  with  the  Register,  and  deposit 
with  him  the  requisite  evidence  of  a  due  conformity  to  the  College  ordi- 
nances, at  least  ten  days  previously  to  the  public  examination;  and  the 
Register  shall  deliver  the  same  to  the  President,  Vice-President,  or  Senior 
Professor. 

If  the  examination  and  Thesis  be  satisfactory  to  the  President,  Vice- 
President,  Professors  and  Trustees,  the  candidate  will  be  recommended, 
by  the  Trustees,  to  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New 
York  for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine. 

The  fee,  for  attending  the  lectures  of  all  the  Professors  in  one  session 
of  the  College,  shall  be  fifty  dollars,  that  is  twelve  dollars  and  fifty  cents 
to  each  Professor;  but  if  any  gentleman  should  not  choose  to  attend 
all  the  Professors,  he  shall  then  pay  fifteen  dollars  to  each  Professor  whose 
course  he  may  attend. 

Every  gentleman,  who  pays  the  full  fee  to  either  of  the  Professors, 
for  his  lectures,  for  two  sessions  in  this  College  shall  be  entitled  to  attend 
these  lectures  in  future  without  any  fee. 

Every  candidate,  for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine,  shall  pay  the 
sum  of  twenty  dollars  as  fee  thereof. 

In  1827  Dr.  Manley,  in  his  annual  address  as  the  president  of 
The  New  York  State  Medical  Society,  after  reflecting  rather 
seriously  on  the  medical  education  situation  in  New  York  City 
itself  for  the  preceding  twenty -five  years  or  more,  has  some  words 
of  high  praise  for  the  medical  school  at  Herkimer.  He  said 
(Transactions  State  Soc.  1827,  p.  394)  : 

Although  it  had  a  small  beginning,  and  has  received  from  the  Legis- 
lature little  or  no  substantive  patronage,  it  is  in  a  very  flourishing  con- 


MEDICAL  EDUCATION  OUTSIDE  NEW  YORK  357 


dition,  and  gives  promise  of  increasing  usefulness.  It  appears  to  have 
been  established  by  the  Regents  with  a  single  eye  to  the  improvement  of 
the  character  of  the  profession  in  the  interior  and  remote  parts  of  the 
State;  and  it  has  answered  their  highest  expectations.  The  teachers  are 
men  of  reputation,  who  appear  to  have  thought  less  of  borrowing  char- 
acter from  their  stations,  than  of  making  it  for  the  institution;  several 
works,  which  are  alike  honorable  to  the  profession  and  their  authors, 
bear  testimony  to  the  merits  of  the  professors. 

There  are  three  distinguished  names  that  well  deserve  particu- 
lar notice  on  the  list  of  the  faculty  of  Fairfield.  They  are :  Dr. 
Lyman  Spalding,  the  president  of  the  college  for  some  time;  Dr. 
Theodoric  Romeyn  Beck,  and  Dr.  John  Stearns.  Dr.  Stearns  was 
the  secretary  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
New  York  State,  if  not  its  initiator.  He  was  long  afterwards  the 
first  president  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  so  that  an 
account  of  his  work  will  be  found  elsewhere.  Dr.  Beck's  name 
became  famous  in  the  world  history  of  medical  jurisprudence,  and 
though  he  remained  but  two  years  at  Fairfield,  the  work  that  he 
undertook  there  in  connection  with  his  lectureship  on  Medical 
Jurisprudence  as  a  side  issue  to  his  Chair  of  the  Institutes  of  Medi- 
cine, led  him  to  give  America  one  of  its  most  important  medical 
text  books,  his  ''Elements  of  Jurisprudence." 

The  third  of  the  group.  Dr.  Lyman  Spalding,  unfortunately 
met  an  early  death  from  accident,  and  so  his  significance  has  been 
missed  to  a  great  extent  in  our  general  medical  history.  Fortu- 
nately, however,  the  story  of  his  career,  so  significant  for  the  medi- 
cal history  of  that  day,  has  been  restored  to  us  by  the  work  of 
his  grandson,  Dr.  James  Alfred  Spalding.^ 

It  is  easy  to  understand  that  with  three  such  men  on  the  faculty 
at  Fairfield,  the  students  were  being  brought  in  contact  with  some 
of  the  most  progressive  thinkers  in  the  American  medicine  of 
that  day.  However  little  they  might  learn  in  the  way  of  informa- 
tion because  of  limited  time  and  facilities,  they  could  scarcely  help 

^Dr.  Lyman  Spalding,  the  originator  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopeia, 
colahorer  with  Dr.  Nathan  Smith  in  the  founding  of  the  Dartmouth  Medical 
School  and  its  first  chemical  lecturer,  President,  and  Professor  of  Anatomy 
and  Surgery  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Western  Dis- 
trict at  Fairfield,  New  York,  by  his  grandson.  Dr.  James  Alfred  Spalding 
(Boston,  Leonard,  1916).  Dr.  Lyman  Spalding  after  some  brilliant  work  at 
Dartmouth  and  Philadelphia  remained  for  six  years  on  the  Faculty  at  Fair- 
field, where  he  lectured  each  winter  in  anatomy,  acting  as  President  of  the 
college  part  of  the  time.  When  he  accepted  the  Professorship  at  Fairfield 
he  transferred  his  practice  to  New  York  City,  hence  his  place  in  our  history. 


358 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


but  be  stimulated  to  face  medical  problems  and  set  about  their 
solutions  in  the  right  way.  It  is  still  a  question  whether  the  educa- 
tion for  power  is  not  ever  so  much  more  important  than  the  educa- 
tion for  information. 

GENEVA  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 

The  establishment  of  a  school  of  medicine  at  Geneva,  New  York, 
in  connection  later  with  Hobart  College,  was  doubtless  suggested 
originally  by  the  unsuccessful  attempt  to  use  the  charter  of  the 
College  of  Geneva  for  the  legal  basis  of  the  medical  school  in 
New  York  City  after  the  experiment  of  using  the  name  and  char- 
ter of  Rutgers  College,  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  had  failed. 
The  courts  of  New  York,  however,  decided  that  the  organization 
of  a  medical  school  in  New  York  City  under  the  title  and  charter 
of  Geneva  was  not  permissible  under  the  laws  of  New  York 
State  as  then  enacted.  This  was  in  1827,  but  the  school  of  medi- 
cine at  Geneva  itself  was  not  chartered  until  1834,  and  gave  its 
first  course  of  instruction  in  1835.  This  foundation  drew  students 
at  once  from  Fairfield,  and  as  Fairfield  declined,  Geneva  pro- 
gressed until  finally  it  replaced  its  earlier  rival. 

The  first  faculty  of  Geneva  Medical  School  consisted  of  Edward 
Cutbush ;  Willard  Parker,  later  to  reach  distinction  in  New  York ; 
Thomas  Spencer,  John  George  Morgan,  Charles  B.  Coventry,  and 
Anson  Coleman.  In  later  years  Frank  Hamilton,  who  was  to  be 
so  successful  as  a  surgeon  in  New  York  City,  James  Hadley,  John 
Delamater,  James  Webster  and  Charles  A.  Lee  were  members  of 
the  faculty.  The  school  continued  in  existence  until  1872,  when 
it  was  merged  with  the  Medical  Department  of  Syracuse  Univer- 
sity. The  following  members  of  the  Geneva  faculty  accepted  pro- 
fessorships at  Syracuse :  Doctors  Fowler,  Hyde,  Nivisan,  Eastman 
and  Reider. 

An  official  list  of  the  graduates  of  the  Geneva  Medical  College 
was  published  in  the  ''Medical  Register  of  New  York,  New  Jer- 
sey and  Connecticut,"  for  1881-1882.  There  were  eight  graduates 
in  1835,  and  the  same  number  the  two  following  years.  Then  the 
number  of  graduates  began  to  increase,  until  in  1845  there  were 
forty-six,  and  all  during  the  decade  from  1841  to  1851  there  were 
some  forty  graduates.  Then  for  some  reason,  within  a  few  years 
after  the  graduation  of  Miss  Blackwell,  though  the  faculty  had 


MEDICAL  EDUCATION  OUTSIDE  NEW  YORK  359 


hoped  that  the  publicity  secured  because  of  the  interest  in  the 
presence  of  a  woman  student  might  prove  a  good  advertisement, 
the  numbers  began  to  decline  rather  rapidly  until  in  1856  there 
were  but  four  graduates.  This  number  rose  again  in  1860  to  eight, 
and  in  1861  to  ten,  but  during  the  war  attendance  declined,  and 
with  it  the  number  of  graduates,  though  this  number  rose  to  twenty 
after  the  war,  and  then  gradually  decreased  again  until  the  school 
was  merged  in  Syracuse  University  in  1872. 

Perhaps  the  one  striking  event  in  its  history  for  which  the 
Geneva  Medical  College  will  always  be  remembered,  is  the  fact 
that  it  was  the  first  college  in  this  country  to  grant  permission 
to  a  woman  to  study  medicine  regularly,  and  then  at  the  end  of 
her  successful  course  conferred  on  her  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine.  That,  as  we  have  shown  in  the  chapter  on  ''Women 
in  Medicine,"  was  much  more  accidental  than  intentional,  the 
faculty  being  quite  sure  that  if  the  request  were  presented  to 
the  students  they  would  refuse  it,  but  the  student  body,  struck 
very  probably  by  the  novelty  of  the  proposition,  granted  it  unani- 
mously. 

Some  of  the  details  of  the  medical  school  experiences  of  Miss 
Blackwell,  this  first  woman  student  of  medicine,  are  interesting  as 
indicating  generally  the  dispositions  of  the  medical  students  of 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  for  in  this  regard  Geneva 
was  probably  no  worse  and  no  better  than  most  of  the  other 
schools.  They  fully  exemplified  the  traditions  of  rough  medical 
student  days  that  have  come  down  to  us.  At  Geneva  they  were 
quite  an  unmanageable  set — riotous,  boisterous,  over  whose  con- 
duct the  medical  faculty  considered  very  probably  that  it  had  no 
special  duty  of  control.  The  students  were  allowed  to  shift  for 
themselves.  At  Geneva  there  had  been  rather  serious  complaints 
from  the  townspeople,  and  even  the  threat  of  having  the  medical 
school  declared  a  nuisance. 

The  presence  of  a  woman  student  was  testified  by  the  faculty 
to  have  ''exercised  a  beneficial  influence  upon  her  fellow  students 
in  all  respects,  and  the  average  attainments  and  general  conduct 
of  the  students  during  the  period  she  had  passed  among  them 
were  of  a  higher  character  than  those  of  any  class  which  had  been 
assembled  in  the  college  since  the  connection  of  the  president  with 
the  institution."  In  spite  of  this  fact,  her  sister  was  refused 
admittance  to  the  school  a  few  years  later. 


360 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


NIAGARA  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

Another  medical  school  outside  of  New  York  City  that  well  de- 
serves a  place  in  the  history  of  medicine  in  New  York  is  that  of 
Niagara  University,  which  though  it  has  a  story  only  fifteen 
years  in  length,  stood  for  a  number  of  ideals  in  medical  education 
that  have  since  come  to  be  recognized  as  indispensable  require- 
ments. Niagara  was  one  of  the  first  medical  schools  to  suggest  the 
need  of  four  years  of  graded  medical  training,  and  of  definite  pre- 
liminary education  before  beginning  the  study  of  medicine.  In 
1893,  Niagara  Medical  School  opened  its  doors  to  women  on  the 
same  terms  as  men,  and  some  women  took  advantage  of  the  oppor- 
tunity thus  afforded.  The  story  of  the  Medical  School  has  been 
written  by  Dr.  Alvin  A.  Hubbell  as  a  chapter  in  the  "History  of 
Niagara  University,"  compiled  for  the  occasion  of  its  fiftieth  an- 
niversary, in  1906.  His  historical  sketch  of  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  Niagara  University,  written  as  it  was  by  a  member  of  the 
faculty  during  the  full  fifteen  years  of  its  existence,  is  the  most 
authentic  account  of  its  foundation  and  aims  that  we  have : 

In  the  winter  of  1882-'83,  an  agitation  arose  in  regard  to  the  feasi- 
bility and  desirability  of  organizing  a  second  school  of  regular  medicine 
in  the  City  of  Buffalo.  The  large  population  of  Buffalo,  its  central  loca- 
tion in  a  large  tributary  territory  and  its  available  clinical  advantages, 
seemed  to  warrant  the  idea  that  such  a  school  would  be  acceptable  and 
that  it  could  be  creditably  maintained.  Outside  the  medical  faculty  of 
the  University  of  Buffalo,  there  was  a  number  of  men  of  the  city,  in 
the  profession,  who  seemed  to  possess  the  fitness,  either  by  natural  apti- 
tude, education,  or  experience,  requisite  for  medical  teachers.  Some  of 
these  men  met  together  and  decided  that  a  school  might  be  organized  which 
should  require  a  better  preparation  for  the  study  of  medicine  and  a 
graded  and  more  extended  college  course  of  lectures. 

At  that  time,  there  prevailed  throughout  the  State,  and,  indeed,  through- 
out the  United  States,  with  very  few  exceptions,  a  system  of  medical  teach- 
ing which  almost  entirely  ignored  an  entrance  requirement,  and  exacted 
but  two  repetition  courses  of  lectures.  That  the  standards  should  be  ad- 
vanced had  become  apparent  to  most  thoughtful  and  educated  men.  The 
revelations  of  physiological  chemistry,  the  discoveries  in  bacteriology,  the 
new  views  in  regard  to  etiology  and  pathology  had  created  a  demand  for 
more  laboratory  courses,  and  the  needs  for  fuller  equipment,  more  time, 
and  more  teachers  on  the  part  of  medical  colleges.  To  break  away  from 
the  old  methods  and  the  old  curricula  required  much  courage  and  the 
older  medical  faculties  hesitated.  New  "blood,"  or  the  inspiration  of  gen- 
erous endowments  of  money,  seemed  to  be  the  only  force  which  could 


MEDICAL  EDUCATION  OUTSIDE  NEW  YORK  361 


undertake  to  bring  about  a  higher  order  of  teaching  methods  and  of 
entrance  and  of  graduation  requirements.  The  University  of  Buffalo  was 
already  doing  its  best  on  the  old  lines.  Its  faculty,  at  that  time,  was 
controlled  by  the  conservative  spirit  of  its  older  members,  and  there  was 
little  disposition  to  change.  There  was  no  need  of  another  school  in  Buffalo 
unless  it  could  take  a  position  higher  than  that  of  others  in  the  State, 
and  endeavor  to  answer  more  fully  the  demands  which  seemed  to  be  press- 
ing upon  medical  teaching. 

It  was  therefore,  with  these  higher  ideals  in  view  that  a  few  Buffalo 
physicians,  led  by  that  learned  and  excellent  man,  the  late  Dr.  John 
Cronyn,  started  out  to  organize  another  school.  But  how  was  it  to  be 
done?  By  the  law  of  1853,  no  medical  college  could  be  organized  in  this 
State  without  a  fund  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  It  was  at  first  believed 
that  one  could  be  founded  in  connection  with  the  Buffalo  Hospital  of 
the  Sisters  of  Charity,  but  it  was  soon  ascertained  that  there  was  no  law 
to  justify  it.  Through  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Cronyn,  the  matter  was  then 
presented  to  the  President  and  Board  of  Trustees  of  an  institution  of 
learning  at  Suspension  Bridge,  below  Niagara  Falls,  New  York,  which  had 
been  in  existence  since  1856,  and  which  had  acquired  a  creditable  reputa- 
tion and  a  considerable  amount  of  property.  It  had  been  chartered  by  a 
special  act  of  the  State  Legislature,  with  the  provision  that  at  any  time, 
when  the  value  of  its  property  had  reached  a  certain  sum,  it  might  be 
erected  into  a  university,  by  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  The  State 
of  New  York.  The  financial  status  had  been  reached  by  which  it  could 
avail  itself  of  the  privileges  of  its  charter.  After  due  consideration 
by  the  late  lamented  Bishop  Ryan  of  Buffalo,  and  the  authorities  of  the 
college  at  Suspension  Bridge,  it  was  decided  to  erect  that  college  into  a 
university  which  should  have  power  to  appoint  any  faculty  it  might  deem 
proper.  There  being  some  doubt,  however,  about  it  having  the  right,  when 
created,  to  maintain  a  faculty  in  Buffalo,  the  Honorable  Thomas  V.  Welch, 
of  Niagara  Falls,  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature,  ef- 
fected the  enactment  of  an  amendment  to  the  original  law,  by  which  such 
university,  when  organized,  should  have  power  to  maintain  any  of  its 
colleges  in  any  place  in  the  County  of  Erie.  According  to  the  provisions 
of  this  and  previous  enactments,  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the 
State  of  New  York  erected  the  College  and  Seminary  of  Our  Lady  of 
Angels  into  Niagara  University,  granting  the  charter,  August  7,  1883. 

Anticipating  the  action  of  the  regents,  all  plans  had  at  that  time  been 
completed  for  the  medical  school.  The  Sisters'  Hospital  was  pledged  to 
it  for  clinical  purposes,  such  facilities  as  it  had  for  lectures  and  labora- 
tories, and  the  prospective  members  of  the  proposed  medical  faculty  were 
assigned  to  services  in  the  hospital. 

As  soon  as  Niagara  University  was  chartered,  the  following  gentlemen, 
all  li^dng  in  Buffalo,  were  appointed  to  its  medical  faculty :  J ohn  Cronyn, 
M.D.,  Professor  of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine  and  Clinical 
Medicine ;  Thomas  Lothrop,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Obstetrics ;  Alvin  A.  Hub- 
bell,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Ophthalmology,  Otology,  and  Laryngology;  Henry 
D.  Ingraham,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Gynaecology  and  Diseases  of  Children; 


362 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


William  S.  Tremaine,  M.D.,  Professor  ot  the  Principles  and  Practice  of 
Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery;  Charles  C.  F.  Gay,  M.D.,  Professor  of 
Operative  and  Clinical  Surgery;  Charles  G.  Stockton,  M.D.,  Professor  of 
Materia  Mediea  and  Therapeutics;  Augustus  R.  Davidson,  M.D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Medical  Chemistry,  Pharmacy  and  Toxicology;  George  E.  Fell, 
M.D.,  Professor  of  Physrologj'  and  Microscopy;  William  H.  Heath,  M.D., 
Professor  of  Descriptive  and  Surgical  Anatomy;  Clayton  M.  Daniels, 
M.D.,  Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery  and  Adjunct  Professor  of  Surgery; 
the  Honorable  Joseph  M.  Congdon,  Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence; 
John  L.  C.  Cronyn,  M.D.,  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy. 

The  standards  were  gradually  raised  till  at  last  a  full  four  years'  graded 
course  was  established.  The  clinical  teaching  was  always  a  feature.  "Be- 
ginning April  12,  1886,  and  ending  May  11,  1898,  thirteen  classes  were 
graduated,  with  a  total  number  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  or  an 
average  of  nearly  eleven  each  year.  The  smallest  graduating  class  was 
that  of  1887,  which  numbered  four,  and  the  largest  that  of  1895,  which 
numbered  nineteen.  In  1893-94  the  school  opened  its  doors  to  women  on 
the  same  terms  as  men.  Several  young  women  availed  themselves  of  this 
privilege  and  two  had  been  graduated,  viz.:  Miss  Anna  E.  Hutchinson 
(1895),  and  Miss  Mary  O'Malley  (1897). 

With  the  death  of  the  president.  Dr.  John  Cronyn,  in  1898,  it 
became  apparent  that  the  efficiency  of  medical  teaching  and  the 
interests  of  the  medical  profession  in  Buffalo  could  be  best  sub- 
served by  a  merger  of  the  medical  faculty  of  Niagara  University 
with  that  of  the  University  of  Buffalo.  This  amalgamation  was 
consummated  June  21,  1898. 

Its  historian 's  closing  words  are  its  best  epitaph :  "It  will  ever 
live  in  the  medical  history  of  the  State  as  one  of  the  advance 
guards  in  the  struggle  for  the  elevation  of  professional  attain- 
ments. ' ' 


CHAPTER  XXIV 


MEDICAL  EDUCATION:  DISTURBING  FACTORS:  THE 
NEW  YORK  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 

IT  might  well  have  been  expected  that  as  New  York  had  made 
such  a  good  beginning  of  medical  education  before  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  then  had  had  the  advantage  of  contact  with  the  sur- 
geons of  the  British  army  during  the  long  years  of  English  occu- 
pation, immediately  after  the  establishment  of  an  independent  gov- 
ernment with  the  freedom  which  it  assured.  New  York  would  de- 
velop a  system  of  medical  education  that  would  be  an  example  to 
the  rest  of  the  country.  While  a  number  of  distinguished  men 
taught  in  her  various  medical  schools  during  the  half  century  after 
the  Revolution,  as  a  matter  of  fact  New  York 's  organization  of  med- 
ical education  was  not  satisfactory.  New  York  City  fell  behind 
Philadelphia  in  power  to  attract  students,  and  while  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  New  York  City  was  then  not  the  metropolis  of  the 
country  and  that  the  preponderance  of  population  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  city  only  came  much  later  in  our  history,  the  reasons  for 
this  backwardness  in  medical  teaching  were  internal  dissensions  and 
not  external  conditions. 

There  were  a  number  of  reasons  for  the  failure  to  secure  a  good 
strong  medical  school  and  then  support  it  properly  in  New  York 
City.  The  population  had  a  large  loyalist  element  in  it.  A  great 
many  of  the  old  families  had  continued  to  be  loyal  in  feeling  to 
Great  Britain  all  during  the  Revolution.  It  was  a  town  of  old 
families,  and  yet,  as  the  principal  port  of  the  country  and  a  verj: 
rapidly  growing  city,  it  received  large  additions  from  abroad  and 
attracted  some  of  the  geniuses  from  the  surrounding  population. 
There  were  very  strong  political  feelings  in  New  York  which  made 
rather  embittered  divisions  between  men,  and  as  a  consequence 
there  were  a  series  of  rivalries  that  had  a  lamentable  reaction  on 
medical  education.  The  first  fifty  years  of  our  history  is  filled  with 
medical  bickerings  and  divisions  between  rival  professors  and  insti- 
tutions and  interfering  political  authorities  that  exercised  a  very 

363 


364 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


sad  ef¥ect  on  the  proper  organization  of  medical  education  in  the 
city.  The  history  of  this  unfortunate  state  of  aifairs  includes  the 
details  of  no  less  than  three  organized  attempts  to  circumvent  the 
authority  of  the  Regents  of  the  State,  who  were  being  swayed 
politically,  as  it  seemed  to  prominent  New  York  physicians,  for 
the  personal  benefit  of  certain  interests.  The  weakness  of  the  legal 
regulation  of  the  practice  of  medicine  had  much  to  do  with  this, 
but  there  were  other  elements. 

In  estimating  the  place  that  New  York  actually  achieved  for  itself 
in  medicine  and  surgery  early  in  our  history,  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  the  city  had  nothing  like  the  population  in  proportion 
to  the  rest  of  the  country  that  it  has  at  the  present  time.  New 
York  City  now  constitutes  about  eight  per  cent,  of  the  population 
of  the  United  States,  and  with  those  in  the  metropolitan  area  (that 
is,  less  than  a  half-hour's  ride  from  the  centre  of  population)  well 
above  seven  per  cent.  This  preponderance  of  population  is  the 
development  of  the  later  nineteenth  century,  however.  Just  after 
the  Revolution,  New  York  State  was  only  fifth  in  population,  and 
Virginia  had  more  than  double  its  number  of  inhabitants,  Pennsyl- 
vania had  nearly  one-fourth  more,  even  North  Carolina  exceeded  it 
by  the  total  census  of  New  York  City  and  Long  Island,  while  Massa- 
chusetts was  nearly  as  far  ahead  of  it,  Maryland  was  its  equal,  and 
Connecticut,  and,  surprising  though  it  must  be  to  think  it,  Tenn- 
essee followed  not  far  behind.  If  from  the  very  beginning,  then, 
the  city,  which  was  smaller  in  size  than  Boston  or  Philadelphia, 
occupied  a  prominent  place  in  medical  teaching  and  surgical  prac- 
tice, it  was  only  because  of  the  enterprise  of  its  professional  men 
which  was  a  little  later  to  make  them  leaders  in  every  way  and 
lift  their  city  into  its  subsequent  position  of  precedence.  The 
State  did  not  rise  to  be  the  equal  of  Virginia  in  population  until 
nearly  1820,  and  it  was  only  about  the  same  time  that  the  city 
came  to  be  the  largest  city  in  America. 

The  promise  that  there  was  in  New  York  medicine  at  this  time 
is  very  well  illustrated  by  some  sentences  in  a  letter  of  Dr.  Jacob 
Bigelow  to  Dr.  Lyman  Spalding  (Boston,  February  13th,  1814), 
in  which  he  said,  "You  seem  to  be  destined  to  become  the  rivals 
of  Philadelphia,  provided  your  forces  should  ever  be  permanently 
united."  Manifestly  it  was  clearly  recognized  that  the  divisions 
in  the  profession  in  New  York  were  seriously  hampering  the  ad- 
vance of  medical  education. 


DISTURBING  FACTORS 


365 


Dr.  James  R.  Manley,  in  his  presidential  address  before  the  New 
York  State  Medical  Society  in  1827,  pointed  out  very  clearly,  as 
he  saw  them,  the  elements  in  our  medical  education  in  this  country 
and  particularly  in  New  York  State,  which  were  preventing  the 
proper  development  of  medical  education.  It  was  largely  a  ques- 
tion of  money.  '  *  The  teaching,  examining  and  the  licensing  powers 
where  they  existed  were  all  claimed  and  exercised  by  the  same  men, 
and  the  emoluments  accruing  to  the  professors  were  made  in  a 
great  measure  to  arise  from  this  unnatural  and  impolitic  union. 
He  ventures  to  say  that  such  a  course  might  have  been  tolerable 
when  well  educated  physicians  were  comparatively  few.  "But 
prudence  should  have  dictated  the  propriety  of  separating  the 
temptations  of  interest  from  the  nobler  incentives  of  medical  dis- 
tinction."  He  dwells  somewhat  emphatically  on  still  another  im- 
portant factor,  and  it  may  be  said  that  all  of  these  combined 
continued  to  pull  down  medical  education  to  a  lower  and  lower  level 
and,  perhaps,  none  more  than  this  fact  that,  "Besides,  the  consti- 
tuted authorities  of  this  State  have  never  efficiently  patronized  their 
own  schools,  as  they  might  and  ought  to  have  done;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  through  a  mistaken  courtesy  have  accorded  the  same  priv- 
ileges to  the  diplomas  of  license  issued  by  foreign  colleges  as  to 
their  own;  on  which  account  medical  schools,  many  of  them  offer- 
ing limited  courses  of  instruction,  have  been  multiplied  to  the 
manifest  detriment  of  our  own  institutions,  and  the  positive  in- 
jury of  the  cause  of  medical  education." 

Dr.  Manley,  in  the  same  presidential  address,  sums  up  a  series 
of  incidents  in  medical  education  in  New  York  City  which  show 
how  disturbed  were  the  conditions.  On  three  different  occasions, 
at  intervals  of  about  fifteen  years,  attempts  were  made  to  found  a 
medical  school  in  New  York  City  that  would  not  be  under  the 
authority  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  University  of  New  York 
State.  The  reasons  for  these  incidents  are  many  and  various,  and 
led  to  a  very  serious  division  of  opinion  not  only  in  the  medical 
profession  itself  but  also  among  the  educated  classes,  at  least,  of 
the  citizens.  It  is  rather  difficult  to  unravel  the  historical  knot 
now  after  a  century,  and  there  are  still  decided  differences  of 
opinion  as  to  the  meaning  of  it  all,  but  at  least  some  of  the  facts 
may  be  given  without  bias  for  the  advantage  of  those  who  have 
often  heard  hints  of  the  incidents  in  question  and  have  wondered 
as  to  their  meaning.   Dr.  Manley  said: 


366 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Queens  (now  Rutgers)  College  in  New  Jersey  has  three  times  made  at- 
tempts to  institute  a  medical  school  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  first 
about  the  year  1793;  the  second  in  1810;  and  the  last  in  1826.  The  first 
effort  had  the  effect  of  so  distracting  the  exertion  necessary  to  form  a 
successful  institution,  that  the  one  organized  about  the  same  time,  under 
the  authority  of  the  trastees  of  Columbia  College,  lost  the  only  opportunity 
that  ever  presented  of  rivaling  the  medical  school  of  Philadelphia.  The 
second  took  advantage  of  the  dissensions  of  the  professors  of  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  and  those  of  the  medical  faculty  of  Columbia 
College  about  the  time  of  their  proposed  union,  and  so  far  succeeded  as 
to  withdraw  a  considerable  portion  of  patronage  from  them  and  transfer 
it  to  themselves;  and  the  third  is  now  in  a  course  of  dubious  experiment, 
under  the  immediate  control  of  a  majority  of  the  quondam  professors  of 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  who  found  it  necessary  or  con- 
venient to  resign  their  chairs  in  April  last. 

The  story  of  the  first  of  these  Rutgers  incidents, — Dr.  Romayne 's 
Medical  School — and  of  the  attempt  to  secure  such  State  recognition 
for  it  either  from  New  York  or  New  Jersey  as  would  enable  it 
to  confer  authoritative  degrees — is  outlined  by  Dr.  James  R.  Man- 
ley,  president  of  the  New  York  State  Medical  Society,  in  a  note 
to  his  presidential  address.  This  would  seem  to  show  that  there 
were  political  influences  at  work  which  prevented  Dr.  Romayne 
from  obtaining  recognition  in  New  York  State.   Dr.  Manley  said: 

In  the  year  1787,  Dr.  Nicholas  Romayne,  a  physician  of  eminence  in 
the  City  of  New  York,  who  had  been  educated  at  Edinburgh,  established 
a  respectable  private  medical  school  and  continued  it  as  such  till  1791, 
when  he  associated  with  Drs.  Sir  James  Jay,  Nicholl,  Moore,  the  two  Kis- 
sams  (brothers),  and  Mitchell,  in  an  application  to  the  Regents  of  the 
University  to  take  them  under  their  protection  and  grant  them  corporate 
powers.  The  Board  of  Regents  listened  with  interest  to  their  memorial, 
and  were  disposed  to  accord  to  them  the  object  of  their  prayer;  but  de- 
layed the  execution  of  it  for  want  of  the  powers  necessary.  They  ap- 
plied to  the  Legislature,  and,  with  the  aid  of  Dr.  Romayne  and  his  friends, 
procured  it  without  difficulty,  and  without  doubt  would  have  exercised 
it  in  creating  a  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  the  same  year;  but, 
in  the  meantime.  Dr.  Samuel  Bard  and  his  medical  friends  whose  interest 
with  the  board  of  trustees  of  Columbia  College,  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber as  well  as  Dr.  Romayne,  was  such  as  to  induce  that  body  to  send  a 
representative  to  the  Regents,  that  they  as  trustees  were  then  organizing 
a  faculty  of  medicine  under  their  own  authority,  which  they  trusted  would 
supersede  the  necessity  of  a  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  till  the 
issue  of  their  measures  was  manifested;  whereupon  the  request  of  the 
trustees  was  granted,  and  all  further  proceedings  suspended.  The  trus- 
tees appointed  a  faculty  as  above  named.  Dr.  Romayne  was  left  out,  al- 
though two  or  three  of  his  associates  were  included.   The  consequences  of 


DISTURBING  FACTORS 


367 


this  measure,  which  even  at  this  distance  of  time  appears  a  little  extraor- 
dinary, were  soon  manifested.  Dr.  Romayne,  knowing  his  own  strength  of 
character,  his  acquirements,  and  the  power  of  his  friends,  declared  an  open 
opposition.  His  private  school  had  acquired  celebrity,  and  his  talents  were 
of  the  first  order,  and  without  much  difficulty  he  procured  the  recogni- 
tion of  Queens  College  [of  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  afterwards  Rut- 
gers] and  delivered  lectures  on  the  various  branches  of  medicine  under  its 
authority. 

This  attempt  to  teach  medicine  in  New  York  under  New  Jersey 
authorization  did  not  succeed,  though  it  seriously  disturbed  the 
medical  education  situation  in  New  York  for  some  years. 

Dr.  Romayne  had  been  treated  unjustly  and  was  soon  to  be 
heard  from^gain.  In  1807  he  was  prominent  in  the  recently  or- 
ganized Medical  Society  of  The  State  of  New  York  and  presented 
a  memorial  through  the  Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New  York 
praying  for  the  incorporation  by  the  Regents  of  a  College  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons.  The  Regents  assented  on  March  12th,  1807, 
and  granted  the  chapter  of  incorporation  to  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons,  ' '  of  which  aU  the  members  of  said  society  and 
all  the  physicians  authorized  to  practise  in  said  city  are  declared 
to  be  trustees  or  members  of  the  said  college."  April  3rd  the 
Regents  appointed  the  professors  for  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  and  the  trustees  were  announced  as  consisting  of  one 
hundred  and  one  practitioners  of  medicine.  The  first  session,  the 
college  had  fifty-three  students,  the  second  session  it  had  seventy- 
two,  and  the  third  opened  under  still  more  favorable  circum- 
stances, but  misunderstandings  took  place  between  the  president. 
Dr.  Romayne,  and  the  professors,  some  of  whom  resigned,  and  the 
number  of  students  were  reduced  to  one-third  their  former  number. 

This  led  to  a  reorganization  with  some  success,  and  in  May, 
1911,  the  first  Medical  Commencement  was  held  in  the  College, 
and  eight  doctorates  conferred,  the  largest  number  ever  graduated 
in  New  York  up  to  this  time.  In  1813  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  and  the  Faculty  of  Physic  of  Columbia  College  con- 
solidated, and  the  outlook  was  most  promising.  There  were  a  num- 
ber of  men  with  teaching  ambitions  who  had  been  left  out  in  this 
consolidation,  and  they  organized  a  rival  medical  school,  and, 
being  unable  to  obtain  the  privilege  of  conferring  degrees  from  the 
Regents  of  the  State  of  New  York,  turned  once  more  to  Queens  or 
Rutgers.  Dr.  Manley  says,  ''that  it  is  very  certain  that  it  (this 
renewed  division)  had  its  origin  in  disappointments  created  by  the 


368 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


acts  of  the  Regents  which  reorganized  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  and  excluded  certain  individuals  from  any  partici- 
pation in  its  honors  or  emoluments,  who  had  heretofore  been  much 
interested  in  both."  Lectures  on  all  the  various  branches  were 
given  in  this  school  for  some  five  years,  and  its  pupils  were  gradu- 
ated under  New  Jersey  authority. 

A  third  Rutgers  College  incident  was  to  occur  just  ten  years 
later,  in  1826.  There  grew  to  be  serious  difficulties  between  the 
faculty  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  and  the  trustees 
of  that  College  appointed  by  the  State  Board  of  Regents,  as  well 
as  with  the  Regents  themselves.  In  the  inaugural  discourse  de- 
livered at  the  opening  of  Rutgers  Medical  College  Dr.  Hosack  gave 
the  details  of  the  difficulties  between  the  medical  faculties  and  the 
trustees,  and  the  reasons  for  establishing  the  new  school  of  medi- 
cine. As  this  represents  an  authentic  contemporary  document,  I 
prefer  to  quote  directly  from  it,  suggesting  only  that  this  of  course 
represents  the  faculty's  position.  The  original  announcement  of 
the  withdrawal  of  the  faculty  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  and  their  determination  to  organize  an  independent  medi- 
cal school  was  made  in  the  following  circular  (printed  on  folded 
sheets  of  letter  paper  size,  only  the  first  page  printed  and  three 
pages  blank) : 

MEDICAL  COLLEGE  OF  NEW  YORK 

City  of  New  York,  1st  August,  1826. 

The  late  Professors  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  having 
seen  fit  to  withdraw  from  the  Institution,  mthout  thereby  intending  to  re- 
hnquish  their  accustomed  functions,  have  organized  another  Medical  Col- 
lege, in  which  all  but  twio  of  the  former  faculty  take  part,  and  the  re- 
maining vacancies  are  filled  by  gentlemen  of  distinguished  fame  and  ac- 
knowledged ability. 

All  the  means  of  instruction  to  be  derived  from  an  extensive  cabinet  of 
Anatomical  and  Surgical  Preparations,  and  a  full  supply  of  subjects  for 
dissection;  from  valuable  collections  of  Natural  History,  Botany,  Miner- 
alogy, and  Chemical  Apparatus,  will  be  amply  afforded  in  this  College  to 
the  votaries  of  Medicine  and  Surgery. 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  COLLEGE 

David  Hosack,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  President 

Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Vice-President 

Peter  S.  Townsend,  M.D.,  Registrar 


DISTURBING  FACTORS 


369 


PROFESSORS 

David  Hosack,  M.D.,  Professor  of  the  Institutes  and  Practice  of  Physic 

and  Clinical  Medicine 
William  James  Macneven,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Therapeutics  and  Materia 

Medica 

Valentine  Mott,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Surgery- 
John  W.  Francis,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and  Forensic  Medicine 
John  D.  Godman,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology 
  Professor  of  Chemistry 

The  several  Courses  of  Instruction  will  commence  on  the  first  Monday  in 
November  ensuing.  Arrangements  are  made  for  conferring  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Medicine  in  the  usual  manner.  The  reciprocity  of  an  ad  eundem 
standing  is  also  established  between  this  College  and  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  The  former  pupils  of  the  Professors  will  be  admitted  as 
heretofore  and  the  Medical  officers  of  the  United  States  Army  and  Navy 
are  invited  on  the  same  footing  as  graduates. 

Published  by  Order 

David  Hosack,  M.D.,  President 
Peter  S.  Townsend,  M.D.,  Registrar 

David  L.  Rogers,  M.D.,  will  give  Lectures  and  Demonstrations  in  Op- 
erative Surgery  under  the  Professor. 

Some  of  the  circulars  issued  by  the  College  are  interesting  for 
the  comparative  study  of  medical  education.  We  reproduce  a 
verbatim  copy  of  one  of  them  because  this  will  best  enable  the 
modern  student  of  the  history  of  medical  education  to  understand 
the  conditions: 


RUTGERS  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 
Duane  Street,  New  York 
LECTURES 

The  lectures  of  this  Institution  commence  on  the  1st  Monday  in  Novem- 
ber, and  continue  until  the  last  day  of  March  ensuing. 
David  Hosack,  M.D.,  Institutes  and  Practice  of  Physic,  and  Clinical  Medi- 
cine Daily 
William  James  Macneven,  M.D.    Therapeutics  and  Materia  Medica 

Daily 

Valentine  Mott,  M.D.  Surgery  Daily 
John  W.  Francis,  M.D.  Obstetrics  and  Forensic  Medicine — 4  times  a  week 
John  D.  Godman,  M.D.,  Anatomy  and  Physiology  Daily 
John  Griscom,  LL.D.    Chemistry  4  times  a  week 


370 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


The  Professor  of  The  Practice  of  Medicine  delivers  to  his  class  at  a 
separate  hour,  but  without  additional  charge,  a  course  of  lectures  on  bot- 
any, exhibiting  by  means  of  living  plants  and  diagrams,  an  outline  of 
the  LinnaBan  System. 

The  Professor  of  Anatomy  teaches  with  the  Knife.  The  dissections 
necessary  to  his  demonstrations  are  made  in  the  presence  of  the  class,  at 
the  time  the  parts  are  described:  hence,  this  has  been  called  the  analytic 
method  of  teaching  anatomy,  because  the  student  becomes  acquainted  with 
the  structure,  during  the  separation  of  the  parts.  In  the  ordinary  mode, 
the  structure  is  analyzed  In  Private,  and  exhibited  to  the  learner  in  a 
etate  of  separation. 

The  College  edifice  is  situated  in  the  ^^cinity  of  the  New  York  Hospital, 
where  clinical  instruction  is  given  daily  at  twelve  o'clock.  In  regard  to 
the  convenience  and  comfort  of  the  class,  this  edifice  is  excelled  by  no  other 
in  the  country.  The  saloon  of  practical  anatiomy,  admitted  to  be  unrivalled 
for  its  extent  and  the  completeness  of  its  arrangements,  is  immediately 
superintended  by  the  Professor  of  Anatomy. 

GRADUATION 

Candidates  for  Graduation  are  required  to  present  certificates  of  having 
arrived  at  the  age  of  21  years,  and  of  having  studied  three  years  under 
the  direction  of  a  regular  practitioner  or  practitioners ;  during  which  time 
Two  Full  courses  must  have  been  attended  in  this  college,  or  one  full 
course  in  another,  and  one  full  course  in  this.  The  examination  of  can- 
didates takes  place  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Lectures. 

In  conformity  to  measures  recently  adopted,  the  Graduates  of  Rutgers 
Medical  College,  will  be  legally  entitled  to  practice  Physic  and  Surgery 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  Union. 

THE  GOLD  MEDAL 

Instituted  by  the  liberality  of  Col.  Henry  Rutgers,  is  annually  awarded 
to  the  author  of  the  best  inaugural  dissertation,  submitted  to  the  Fac- 
ulty. 

A  SILVER  MEDAL 

Instituted  by  a  Citizen  of  New  York,  will  be  annually  awarded  by 
the  Faculty  to  the  author  of  the  best  inaugural  dissertation  on  diseases 
and  medical  Topography  of  the  United  States. 

TERMS  OF  THE  COURSE 

Matriculation  $3.  Tickets  $15  each.  Practical  Anatomy  $10.  Grad- 
uation $25. 

By  order 

David  Hosack,  M.D.,  President  of  the  Faculty. 
P.  S.  TowNSEND,  M.D.,  Registrar. 


DISTURBING  FACTORS 


371 


The  question  as  to  the  legality  of  the  erection  of  a  medical  col- 
lege in  New  York  City  in  connection  with  a  New  Jersey  institution 
of  learning  was  of  course  at  once  raised  by  the  educational  authori- 
ties of  New  York  State.  Apparently  the  feeling  was  that  the  legal 
position  was  untenable,  and  so  the  following  year  Rutgers  Medical 
Faculty  became  connected  with  Geneva  College,  New  York  State. 
For  the  session  1827-28  the  catalogue  bears  the  legend,  "Rutgers 
Medical  Faculty,  Geneva  College,  Duane  Street,  City  of  New  York." 
There  was  even  question  as  to  whether  this  arrangement  for  the 
granting  of  degrees  could  be  continued  legally,  so  flying  sheets 
containing  the  legal  opinion  of  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  and  Josiah 
Ogden  Hoffman,  the  most  distinguished  New  York  attorneys  of 
the  time,  were  published  by  the  Faculty.  Some  of  these  may  be 
seen  in  the  Academy  of  Medicine  Library,  and  run  as  follows: 

TO  THE  PUBLIC. 

As  attempts  have  been  made  to  throw  doubt  upon  the  validity  of  the 
degrees  of  the  Rutgers  Medical  Faculty  of  Geneva  College,  it  is  deemed 
sufficient  to  submit  to  the  public  the  following  opinion  of  eminent  coun- 
sel : — 

DAVID  HOSACK,  M.D., 

President  of  the  Faculty 

New-York,  Nov.  3d,  1827 
We  have  deliberately  examined  the  charter  of  Geneva  College  and  the 
act  relating  to  the  different  Colleges  in  this  State,  and  have  no  hesitation 
in  saying  that  diplomas  granted  by  Geneva  College  to  those  who  shall  study 
Medicine  with  Rutgers  Medical  Faculty  of  that  College  are  good,  effectual, 
and  valid  to  every  purpose  for  which  a  Medical  degree  is  legally  requisite, 
and  equally  so  as  that  of  any  Medical  College  in  this  State. 

THOMAS  ADDIS  EMMET, 
JOSIAH  OGDEN  HOFFMAN. 

In  spite  of  this  high  legal  opinion  the  question  of  the  legal  right 
of  Geneva  College  to  grant  degrees  through  a  medical  faculty  in 
New  York  City  having  been  brought  before  the  courts  was  de- 
cided unfavorably  in  1830.  At  this  time  three  of  the  professors — 
David  Hosack,  president ;  Valentine  Mott  and  John  W.  Francis, — 
issued  a  formal  declaration  with  regard  to  the  status  of  the  College, 
and  detailing  the  history  of  their  efforts,  gave  up  the  attempt  fo 
continue  medical  teaching.  That  document  is  of  historical  interest 
and  importance: 


372 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Circular  Address  of  the  Medical  Faculty  of  Geneva  College,  New 
York. 

The  undersigned,  late  Professors  in  the  Rutgers  Medical  Faculty  of 
Geneva  College,  New  York,  in  answer  to  numerous  inquiries,  both  episto- 
lary and  verbal,  announce  that  they  have  resolved  to  suspend,  for  the 
present,  the  exercise  of  their  collegiate  duties  as  professors  in  the  different 
departments  of  medical  science.  Unwilling  to  contravene  the  laws  of  the 
State,  or  the  decisions  of  its  courts,  which  have  recently  declared  that 
Geneva  College  does  not  possess  the  power  of  establishing  a  Medical 
Faculty  in  the  City  of  New  York,  they  address  themselves  to  the  unbiased 
and  uninfluenced  opinions  of  their  countrymen.  Most  of  their  board  have, 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  others  for  a  longer  period,  devoted  their  time 
and  talents  to  the  improvement  of  youth  in  the  noble  and  important  science 
of  medicine;  they  trust  with  uniform  and  unequivocal  approbation;  with 
necessary  and  consequent  improvement  of  the  profession,  and  benefit  to  the 
cause  of  humanity.  A  medical  institution  had  been  reared  by  their  hands 
from  the  humblest  beginning  into  successful  rivalship  with  the  oldest  and 
most  prosperous  university  in  the  country;  but  when  by  years  of  vig- 
orous diligence,  and  well  directed  exertions,  their  situation  excited  the 
cupidity  of  those  to  whom  unfortunately  its  government  was  confided, 
they  relinquished  their  situations  after  the  highest  authorities  in  the  State 
had  not  only  acquitted  them  of  all  censure,  but  had  passed  a  distinct  vote 
of  approbation  in  their  favor. 

On  abandoning  their  seats,  they  founded  and  erected  on  their  own  in- 
dividual responsibility,  a  New  College;  desirous  of  continuing  their  efforts 
in  a  cause  in  which  they  had  been  sO'  successful;  and  from  this  institu- 
tion they  have  for  several  years  past  sent  forth  numerous  well-educated 
youth,  who  had  repaired  hither  from  different  and  remote  sections  of  the 
Union.  Let  it  suffice,  that  more  than  two  thousand  pupils  have  been 
educated  under  their  care  and  direction  during  their  entire  collegiate  labors. 
But  the  authorities  of  the  State,  which,  whether  right  or  wrong,  they  are 
bound  to  obey,  having  seen  proper  to  deny  their  protection,  in  order  to 
sustain  a  monopoly,  and  to  prevent  by  legislative  enactment,  that  compe- 
tition so  necessary  to  the  free  development  of  talent,  they  now  withdraw 
from  the  task  of  official  and  public  instruction;  wishing  to  those  who 
come  after  them  all  the  success  they  may  merit,  unimpeded  by  those  envi- 
ous arts  which  may  interfere  with  their  usefulness.  To  all  who  have 
honored  their  exertions  with  their  patronage  or  approbation,  they  make 
their  most  grateful  acknowledgments  for  the  generous  countenance  they 
have  received.  To  those  ingenuous  youth,  wherever  situated,  who  have 
done  them  the  honor  to  attend  to  their  instruction  (many  of  them  now 
among  the  most  distinguished  in  the  profession),  they  wish  every  suc- 
cess, and  they  hope  that  ere  long  an  opportunity  may  present  by  which 
they  may  be  enabled,  under  legal  sanction,  to  exhibit  to  the  public  renewed 
claims  to  their  confidence  and  approbation. 

David  Hosack,  M.D., 
President  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  and  Professor  of  the  Institutes 

and  Practice  of  Physic  and  Clinical  Medicine. 


DISTURBING  FACTORS  373 


Valentine  Mottt,  M.D., 

Professor  of  Surgery. 
John  W.  Francis,  M.D., 
Professor  of  Obstetrics  and  Porsenic  Medicine. 

Thus  closed  the  third  and  last  attempt  at  medical  teaching  in 
New  York  City  independent  of  state  educational  authority.  Even 
twenty-five  years  after  this  third  Rutgers  incident  in  the  history 
of  medicine  in  New  York  there  had  been  little  improvement  in 
medical  education.  Amelioration  of  conditions  was  not  to  come 
until  the  American  Medical  Association  was  able  to  introduce  some- 
thing like  uniformity  into  the  problem  of  preliminary  requirements 
and  the  definite  regulation  of  medical  studies.  Dr.  Manley,  in  his 
annual  discourse  before  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine  in 
1849,  said,  ' '  I  shall  speak  of  the  abuses  of  medicine  in  connection 
with  the  education  of  physicians,  with  a  view  to  their  correction. 
Perhaps  there  never  was  a  time  when  medical  abuses  were  more 
rife,  medical  impostures  more  successful,  or  medical  delusions  more 
fatuous  or  more  fatal ;  and  it  is  as  much  our  interest  as  it  is  our 
duty,  to  inquire  into  their  causes,  that  we  may  take  all  reason- 
able measures  which  the  nature  of  the  subject  may  suggest,  to 
limit  their  influence." 

Dr.  J.  B.  St.  John  Roosa,  in  his  ''Medical  New  York,  Old  and 
New, ' '  an  address  delivered  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Post-Gradu- 
ate  Medical  School,  said  of  the  condition  of  medical  education  in 
New  York  at  the  beginning  of  the  decade  in  which  Dr.  Manley's 
address  was  delivered,  *'At  one  time  a  little  before  1841  the  one 
medical  college  of  New  York  was  so  little  known,  or  was  so  ob- 
scurely situated  that  an  aspiring  medical  student,  now  a  distin- 
guished Professor,  could  not  be  directed  to  it  by  the  gentleman  to 
whose  office  he  went  to  begin  his  medical  studies.  Yet  this  was 
the  day  of  Mott,  of  Kearney  Rodgers,  of  Griscom,  the  elder,  and  of 
Alexander  H.  Stevens,  of  Hosack  and  of  Francis. ' ' 

Few  men  were  more  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  state  of  medical 
education  and  with  medical  problems  generally  in  New  York  than 
Dr.  St.  John  Roosa,  at  the  time  of  the  delivery  of  this  address, 
and  yet  he  did  not  hesitate  to  say  some  rather  bitter  truths  with 
regard  to  medical  education  in  New  York  even  in  the  eighties. 
Perhaps  some  of  his  deprecation  may  be  discounted  because  of  the 
event  that  called  forth  his  address,  the  foundation  of  the  first  Post- 
Graduate  Medical  School  in  this  country,  but  his  expressions  are 


374 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


worthy  of  a  place  in  history  as  representing  the  opinion  of  a 
thoughtful  practical  contemporary: 

New  York  has  not  kept  pace  with  the  small  towns  in  the  number  of 
her  undergi-aduate  students,  or  in  the  reputation  of  her  colleges,  but  her 
professional  schools  have  been  for  fifty  years  growing  in  magnitude  and 
importance.  New  York  has  now  more  than  two  thousand  medical  students. 
Her  hospitals  and  dispensaries  have  increased  until  they  can  scarcely  be 
named  offhand.  Yet  the  medical  colleges  continue  to  be  private  and  pro- 
prietaiy  institutions.  Their  teachers  are,  I  believe,  among  the  best  of  our 
country,  and  worthy  of  any  country.  But  while  Boston  and  Philadelphia 
are  making  vast  strides  in  improving  the  methods  of  instruction.  New  York 
is  obliged,  from  lack  of  endowments,  to  hold  on  to  the  old  plan.  Those 
who  have  studied  one,  two,  three  years,  sit  upon  the  benches,  hear  the 
same  lectures,  and  crowd  the  same  wards  and  amphitheatres.  There  is 
no  matriculation  examination,  and,  unless  in  exceptional  cases,  but  one 
final  one  at  the  end  of  three  years,  of  what  is  in  some  cases  merely  nominal 
study. 

The  reform  in  medical  education  came  when  the  proprietary 
medical  schools  ceased  to  exist,  and  when  medical  schools  became, 
as  they  should  be,  graduate  departments  of  universities  with  facul- 
ties much  more  interested  in  teaching  and  in  the  progress  of  medi- 
cine than  in  the  accretion  of  a  lucrative  medical  practice.  That 
reform  has  come  practically  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  and 
has  already  lifted  New  York's  medical  schools  to  a  high  plane  of 
efficiency  and  promises  even  more  for  the  immediate  future.  Above 
all  it  has  raised  the  standard  of  general  medical  attainment.  The 
advance  of  professional  medicine  is  measured  more  by  the  average 
knowledge  of  the  mass  of  the  profession  than  by  the  progress  made 
by  a  few  distinguished  teachers  and  practitioners  of  medicine  and 
surgery.  Not  the  few  chosen  spirits  are  now  stimulated  to  breadth 
and  depth  of  medical  knowledge,  but  large  classes  receive  adequate 
training  that  fits  them  for  excellent  practical  work  immediately 
after  graduation. 

THE  NEW  YORK  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 

One  very  well  planned  attempt  to  get  away  from  the  unfortu- 
nate degradation  of  medical  education  which  had  come  over  the 
country  was  made  in  New  York.  This  was  the  New  York  Medical 
College,  and  its  founders  proved  to  be  a  full  generation  ahead  of 
their  time,  but  had  their  effect  upon  their  own  generation  even 
though  the  coming  of  the  Civil  War  compelled  them  to  close 


DISTURBING  FACTORS 


375 


their  doors.  The  story  of  it  represents  a  veritable  oasis  in  the 
desert  of  low  grade  medical  education  in  America  at  this  time.  The 
Faculty  had  a  high  aim,  and  their  efforts  were  well  directed  and 
with  abundant  energy  behind  them.  It  would  be  too  bad  if  the 
plan  of  the  New  York  Medical  College  were  not  to  be  properly  ap- 
preciated. It  has  been  told  very  well  by  Dr.  Jacobi,  who  shared 
the  fortunes  of  the  school,  and  lives  on  as  the  last  remaining  mem- 
ber of  the  Faculty,  and  so  I  quote  from  his  article  on  the  subject 
as  prepared  for  the  Historical  Section  of  the  New  York  Academy 
of  Medicine,  and  kindly  lent  to  me  in  manuscript  before  its  pub- 
lication : 

County  and  State  Medical  Societies, — that  means  the  profession  at  large, 
— urged  the  schools  to  change  their  methods  as  to  the  quality  and  quantity 
of  their  teaching,  but  in  vain.  Then  it  was  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  founded  in  1806,  which  called  a  convention  of  the 
prominent  medical  men  of  the  whole  country  to  consider  these  defects  and  to 
urge  improvements  on  the  schools.  The  second  call  proved  successful.  One 
hundred  delegates  from  thirteen  States  assembled  in  New  York  in  1846. 
Many  schools  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the  movement,  unfortunately,  not 
for  the  last  time;  for  even  when  thirty  or  more  years  afterward  the  fight 
was  up  for  increased  medical  requirements  of  matriculation  in  medical 
schools  and  of  State  requirements  before  the  license  to  practice  should  be 
gi-anted,  it  was  the  schools  that  opposed  it  openly;  and  when  public 
opinion  became  too  strong  to  be  openly  thwarted,  two  of  the  three  great 
schools  of  medicine  in  New  York  City  sent  their  strongest  influential  men 
to  Albany  for  clandestine  wire-pulling.  They  were  A.  L.  Loomis  and 
Austin  Flint.  They  did  not  succeed,  however.  It  is  now  conceded  that  the 
wisdom  of  the  New  York  State  Medical  Society  displayed  in  1882  in  its 
modification  of  the  Code  of  Ethics  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
and  in  cooperating  with  all  classes  of  legal  practitioners,  secured  for  us 
and  for  most  of  the  States  of  the  Union  which  followed  our  example,  laws 
which  raised  the  standard  of  medical  education,  gave  our  students  greater 
facilities,  and  protected  the  public  by  restricting  ignorance  or  quackery. 

In  the  Convention  of  1846,  committees  were  appointed  to  report  in  1847. 
In  that  year  the  Convention  met  in  Philadelphia,  and  it  was  there  that 
the  American  Medical  Association  was  founded.  For  years  after,  it  urged 
the  schools  to  adopt,  among  others,  the  following  changes:  1st,  to  in- 
crease the  leng-th  of  the  lecture  term;  2nd,  to  increase  the  number  of  pro- 
fessorships; 3d,  to  separate  the  granting  of  degTees  from  the  board  of 
official  teachers. 

As  not  a  single  one  of  the  existing  schools  saw  fit  to  adopt  a  single 
one  of  these  recommendations,  the  reform  element  in  the  profession  es- 
tablished a  few  schools.  Dr.  Davis  reports:  "Thus  the  New  York 
Medical  College  was  called  into  existence."  It  was  chartered  April  8th, 
1850;  its  cornerstone  was  laid  July,  1850;  and  the  building  was  in- 


376 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


augnrated  on  the  16th  of  October.  The  first  commencement  of  the  new 
Bchool  was  held  in  March,  1851. 

It  was  the  first  to  wholly  conform  to  the  changes  advised  by  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association.  Its  building,  112  East  13th  street,  the  most 
convenient  for  the  comfort  of  the  teachers  and  the  public  of  any  in  the 
country,  contained  three  large  lecture  rooms,  so  that  the  classes  were 
never  compelled  to  occupy  the  same  hall  during  two  consecutive  hours. 
The  entire  front  of  the  building  Avas  devoted  to  the  chemical  laboratory 
and  museums.  Here  it  was  that  in  1850  was  established  the  first  chem- 
ical laboratory  in  the  United  States  in  connection  with  a  medical  col- 
lege, established  for  the  instruction  of  students  in  medicine  in  analytical 
researches  important  in  medical  practice.  Each  candidate  for  graduation 
was  examined  before  a  board  of  censors. 

The  lecture  term  was  lengthened  and  a  summer  course  was  established. 
The  number  of  professors  was  gradually  increased  to  ten,  in  place  of 
the  familiar  seven  or  less.  The  charter  strictly  separated  the  power 
of  granting  degrees  from  the  board  of  trustees,  as  Section  V.  "pro- 
vides for  the  appointment  of  a  Board  of  Censors  which  was  taken 
from  the  profession  not  connected  with  the  College,  without  whose 
consent  no  degree  could  be  confeiTed." 

To  remove  all  pecimiary  temptation  to  increase  the  number  of  grad- 
uates, the  same  section  provided  that  no  fee  should  be  charged  for 
granting  a  degree.  Finally,  the  Faculty,  realizing  the  vast  importance 
of  combining  more  clinical  with  didactic  instruction,  procured  a  charter 
for  a  hospital  to  be  located  alongside  of  the  College.  While  await- 
ing the  raising  of  funds  to  build,  they  opened  and  organized  a  charity 
ward  in  the  College  itself.  In  that  ward  I  taught  in  1860  and  after, 
until  both  the  ward  and  the  college  were  discontinued,  for  discontinued 
they  were.  That  is  the  brief  history  of  the  first  attempt  at  raising  a  reg- 
ular daily  bedside  clinic  for  all  branches  of  instruction  in  the  indispen- 
sable parts  of  medical  teaching.  The  twenty-seven  beds  were  ours,  and 
in  daily,  almost  hourly,  use.  This  should  be  recognized  as  a  new  and 
systematic  teaching,  the  first  one  in  America,  and  should  be  remembered 
as  one  of  the  progressive  steps  in  American  teaching.  When  it  was  dis- 
continued in  1864  it  had  no  successor  until  in  1898,  when  bedside  instruc- 
tion was  established  for  the  students  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons. 

In  the  first  faculty  of  1850,  there  sat  Horace  Green,  Professor  of  The- 
ory and  Practice;  Abraham  L.  Cox,  of  Surgery;  Edwin  Hamilton  Davis, 
of  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics;  B.  Fordyce  Barker,  of  Midwifery 
and  the  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children;  and  K.  Ogden  Doremus,  of 
Chemistry  and  Toxicology.  In  1851,  John  Mim-ay  Carnochan  took  the 
place  of  Dr.  Cox,  and  Edward  R.  Peaslee  took  the  chair  of  Physiology, 
Pathology  and  Microscopy.  In  1852  two  additional  chairs  were  created — 
that  of  Medical  Jurisprudence,  occupied  by  Judge  Joel  Parker  of  Bos- 
ton; and  that  of  Dental  Pathology  and  Surgei-y,  for  Dr.  C.  C.  Allen. 
Very  few  changes  took  place  after  that,  but  H.  G.  Cox  was  elected  Profes- 
sor of  Theory  and  Practice  in  1885;  Timothy  Childs,  Profess,or  of  Anat- 


DISTURBING  FACTORS 


377 


omy  in  1856;  Austin  Flint,  Jr.,  Professor  of  Physiology  and  Pathology  in 
1859.  I  have  mentioned  only  such  men  as  before  and  since  their  appoint- 
ment made  a  name  for  themselves  and  have  played  a  prominent  role  in 
American  medicine. 

In  1861  Southern  students  began  their  exodus  from  New  York.  The 
school  was  not  persona  grata  with  the  South,  nor  with  all  the  other  New 
York  schools,  which  had  not  mended  their  ways  during  the  whole  decade 
of  the  existence  of  the  New  York  Medical  College,  and  the  majority  of 
the  faculty  of  the  latter  college  became  discouraged. 

A  new  faculty  was  appointed  April  21st,  1860.  In  it  were  Doremus 
and  Carnochan,  of  the  former  faculty;  L.  Meredith  Reese,  A.  K.  Gardner, 
B.  I.  Raphael,  John  0.  Bronson,  Charles  A.  Budd,  Bern  L.  Budd,  R.  K. 
Brown,  and  A.  Jacobi.  Two  thoroughly  new  departments  were  created. 
Toxicology  was  taught  independently  of  chemistry,  by  Bern  L.  Budd,  and 
the  diseases  of  children  were  made  a  full  professorship.  It  has  taken 
Harvard  thirty  years  and  Columbia  forty  years  to  follow  the  example  of 
the  struggling  little  school  in  East  13th  street.  In  Columbia  even  the 
great  names  of  Otis  and  Agnew  were  permitted  to  add  to,  or  in  part  to 
make,  the  renown  of  the  school  as  mere  "clinicals"  until  their  death.  The 
"seven,"  that  sacred  close  corporation,  willed  it  so.  Both  in  Harvard  and 
Columbia  the  diseases  of  children  are  now  taught  by  full  professors.  Roteh 
must  not  be  forgotten  by  either  Harvard  or  America,  and  Holt's  acknowl- 
edged rank  in  his  profession  and  specialty  will  always  be  remembered. 

During  the  years  1861  and  1863  a  few  names  were  added,  some  of  which 
were  those  of  then  or  afterwards  famous  men.  These  were  Noeggerath, 
S.  R.  Percy,  Frederic  Holcombe,  and  David  S.  Conant.  In  1864  the  school 
was  compelled  to  close  because  the  ideals  of  the  faculty  were  too  high  for 
the  time,  though  strictly  in  accord  with  the  demands  of  the  American  Med- 
ical Association  for  the  raising  of  the  standards  of  medical  education  in 
this  country.  Reform  in  medical  education  had  to  wait  for  another  gen- 
eration until  the  closer  union  between  medical  schools  and  universities 
served  to  lift  standards  of  matriculation  and  of  graduation. 


CHAPTER  XXV 


THE  DOCTORS'  RIOT  AND  THE  QUEST  OF  ANATOMICAL 

MATERIAL 

ONE  of  the  rather  disturbing  chapters  in  the  history  of  medi- 
cine in  New  York  is  what  is  known  as  ''the  Doctors'  Riot,'* 
or,  as  it  is  sometimes  spoken  of,  "the  Doctors'  Mob."  It 
was  not,  as  the  name  might  seem  to  imply,  a  riot  incited  by  physi- 
cians or  a  mob  led  by  them ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  riotous  demon- 
stration against  the  medical  school  of  the  day,  and  particularly 
against  its  anatomical  department.  As  this  took  place  in  1788,  some 
five  years  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  when  we  were  supposed 
to  be  enjoying  the  freedom  of  American  laws  and  government  and 
our  people  are  presumed  to  have  been  far  beyond  what  are  usually 
spoken  of  as  medieval  superstitions,  the  incident  is  all  the  more 
surprising.  The  event,  however,  is  really  a  key  to  the  significance 
of  certain  phases  of  modern  history  that  deserves  to  be  understood. 
Far  from  being  a  unique  event,  this  "Doctors'  Riot"  in  New  York 
was  only  one  of  a  series  of  occurrences  of  similar  nature  through- 
out the  country,  and  so  far  from  being  the  last  of  its  kind,  these 
incidents  continued  to  occur  for  more  than  half  a  century  after- 
wards, the  last  that  I  know  of  them  being  that  of  St.  Louis  as  late 
as  1844,  when  Scharf  in  his  "History  of  St.  Louis"  (vol.  2,  page 
1835)  says,  that  "The  rioters  broke  down  the  doors,  made  their 
way  into  all  the  rooms  of  the  college  building,  tore  down  and 
destroyed  all  the  furniture,  demolished  all  the  valuable  material 
that  had  been  prepared  with  much  care  and  at  great  expense  for 
the  Museum,  and  in  fact  left  nothing  of  the  equipment  of  the 
institution  save  only  the  bare  walls  and  roof." 

As  a  matter  of  fact.  New  York's  "Doctors'  Riot"  was  one  of 
the  first  if  not  the  very  first  incident  of  that  kind  in  the  country, 
and  its  occurrence  here  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Anatomical 
Department  of  the  Medical  School  was  conducted  in  such  a  way 
as  to  provide  a  thorough  practical  course  in  dissection,  requiring 
the  provision  of  a  number  of  bodies,  so  that  the  feelings  of  the 

378 


THE  DOCTORS'  RIOT 


379 


populace  were  deeply  aroused.  The  New  York  experience,  how- 
ever, led  to  a  beginning  of  legislative  reform  which  gradually 
brought  about  a  better  state  of  feeling  all  over  the  country,  though 
the  improvement  was  very  slow  to  come.  The  series  of  events  il- 
lustrate very  clearly  one  serious  handicap  under  which  medicine 
labored  in  the  early  part  of  our  history,  and  that  New  York  was 
the  first  to  obviate  it. 

This  difficulty  in  the  path  of  the  progress  of  anatomical  science 
as  well  as  of  scientific  medicine  and,  above  all,  of  pathology  and 
practical  surgery,  which  existed  here  in  America,  was  a  heritage 
from  England  and  the  Puritanic  times  that  was  very  unfortunate. 
Popular  feeling  made  it  impossible  to  provide  anatomical  material 
from  any  legitimate  source.  It  was  an  extremely  difficult  thing  at 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
turies for  medical  schools,  to  say  nothing  of  physicians,  to  pro- 
cure bodies  for  dissecting  purposes.  This  was  not  due,  as  is  some- 
times said,  to  any  old-fashioned  idea  of  the  sanctity  of  the  body,  a 
heritage  from  the  long  preceding  time  when  superstitions  were 
rife,  but  on  the  contrary  came,  as  I  have  said,  from  quite  a  modern 
development  of  narrowness  of  mind  which  during  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries  put  a  number  of  prohibitions  and  inhibi- 
tions into  life,  altogether  beyond  what  there  had  been  of  such 
shackles  on  progress  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

Dissection  had  been  practised  freely  and  constantly  in  the 
Italian  medical  schools  from  the  thirteenth  century  onwards.  In 
the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  many  Italian  anatomists 
boasted  of  making  hundreds  of  dissections.  Not  only  were  these 
made  in  the  medical  schools,  but  practically  every  artist  of  the 
Renaissance  made  many  dissections.  Many  hundreds  of  sketches 
of  these  dissections  made  by  Italian  artists  have  been  recovered, 
and  have  served  better  than  any  written  account  could  possibly 
have  done  to  demonstrate  the  absolute  lack  of  prejudice  in  this 
matter  among  Italians. 

The  Englishmen  who  had  studied  in  Italy  in  the  early  sixteenth 
century,  especially  Linacre  and  Caius,  brought  back  with  them 
Italian  traditions  in  this  matter,  and  were  beginning  to  secure 
their  adoption  in  England  when  the  religious  troubles  of  the  Ref- 
ormation period  came  to  disturb  medical  advance  in  England  by 
rude  separation  from  the  Continent.  Gradually  the  number  of 
dissections  dwindled,  and  though  during  the  sixteenth  and  early 


380 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


seventeenth  centuries  such  discoveries  as  those  of  the  tubercle  of 
Lower,  the  foramen  of  Winslow,  Glisson's  capsule,  and  other  ana- 
tomical details,  show  careful  attention  to  anatomical  studies,  these 
were  made  ever  more  and  more  difficult  by  the  lack  of  bodies  for 
dissection.^ 

This  dearth  of  dissecting  material  continued  to  be  felt  very 
keenly  until  well  on  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  there  is  even  a 
speech  of  Lord  Macaulay  made  in  the  English  Parliament  as  late 
as  the  early  thirties  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  which  he  pleads 
for  the  passage  of  a  law  granting  the  bodies  of  the  unclaimed  dead 
to  medical  schools.  Up  to  that  time,  arguments  very  analogous  to 
those  which  have  prevented  or,  at  least,  seriously  hampered  animal 
experimentation  in  English-speaking  countries,  were  advanced 
against  the  granting  of  permission  to  secure  anatomical  material  in 
the  only  way  in  which  it  can  be  readily  and  satisfactorily  ob- 
tained to  the  extent  that  it  is  needed, — that  is,  by  granting  all 
unclaimed  bodies  to  the  medical  schools  for  anatomical  purposes. 

It  is  not  surprising  then  that  the  early  details  of  anatomical 
study  in  New  York  and  indeed  everywhere  throughout  the  country 
are  scanty. 

The  first  post-mortem  examination  legally  made  in  America  is 
referred  to  in  an  order  of  the  Council  of  Lord  Baltimore  dated  St. 
Mary's  in  Maryland,  July  20,  1670.  This  consisted,  however,  only 
of  an  order  to  review  the  medico-legal  appearances  of  the  head  of 
one  Benjamin  Price,  supposed  to  have  been  killed  by  the  Indians. 
New  York  probably  deserves  the  credit  for  the  first  formal  legal 
post-mortem  examination  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term — that  on 
the  body  of  Governor  Sloughter  of  New  York,  which  is  usually 
declared  to  have  been  the  first  recorded  autopsy  in  America.  This 
it  is,  though,  as  was  pointed  out  by  Dr.  Hartwell  in  his  lecture  on 
''The  Hindrances  to  Anatomical  Study  in  the  United  States,  In- 
cluding a  Special  Record  of  The  Struggles  of  Our  Early  Anatomi- 

^  The  evidence  that  the  Latin  countries  generally  were  not  obsessed  by 
this  prejudice  against  dissection  which  continued  to  hamper  the  development 
of  anatomy  until  well  on  in  the  nineteenth  century,  is  furnished  by  Moliere 's 
well-known  complaint  that  the  attendance  at  the  theatre  in  his  time  at  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  seriously  interfered  with  because  of  the 
fashionable  fad  for  attendance  at  dissections.  Paris  society  crowded  to  see 
"anatomies"  done,  and  it  came  to  be  quite  the  thing  for  dissection  parties 
to  be  organized  by  invitation,  with  a  dinner  before  or  a  supper  afterwards, 
just  as  for  the  theatre. 


THE  DOCTORS'  RIOT 


381 


cal  Teachers/'  which  appeared  in  the  Armals  of  Anatomy  and 
Surgery  (Brooklyn,  1881),  there  is  a  reference  in  the  records  of 
the  Salem  Witchcraft  Trials  to  a  preceding  legal  post-mortem 
examination  with  autopsy  some  fifteen  years  before  this  in  Massa- 
chusetts. According  to  these  records,  a  jury  had  been  empanelled 
upon  the  body  of  a  man  who  had  died  suddenly  in  the  house  of 
Giles  Corey.  This  formal  jury,  among  whom  was  Dr.  Zerubabel 
Endicott,  found  the  man  bruised  to  death  and  ''having  dodders 
of  blood  about  the  heart."  This  expression  leaves  no  doubt  that 
a  rather  thorough  dissection  was  made.  Governor  Sloughter's 
case  remains,  however,  the  first  formal  medico-legal  autopsy  with 
complete  records.  The  Governor  died  suddenly  under  circum- 
stances which  excited  suspicions  of  poisoning.  Dr.  Johannes  Kerf- 
byle,  assisted  by  five  physicians,  examined  the  body  thoroughly. 
The  appreciation  of  their  services  in  the  matter  will  be  recog- 
nized from  the  fact  that  the  Council  ordered  eight  guineas  (£8,  8s.) 
to  be  paid  the  surgeons  for  their  examination.  This  would  repre- 
sent at  least  $200  in  value  in  the  money  of  our  time. 

The  first  dissection  for  purely  anatomical  purposes  and  scien- 
tific demonstration  to  medical  students  that  we  have  on  record  in 
what  is  now  the  United  States,  was  performed  by  Drs.  John  Bard 
and  Peter  Middleton  before  a  small  class  of  medical  students  in 
the  city  of  New  York  in  1750.  The  subject  was  the  body  of 
Hermanns  Carroll,  an  executed  criminal.  The  record  shows  that 
this  dissection  was  made  "for  the  instruction  of  the  young  men 
then  engaged  in  the  study  of  medicine."  This  is  proof  that  at 
least  informal  medical  instruction  was  being  conducted  in  New 
York  at  this  time,  some  'fifteen  years  before  the  organization  of 
the  medical  school  in  Philadelphia.  Dr.  Cadwalader  made  dis- 
sections for  the  benefit  of  the  physicians  of  Philadelphia  in  1751, 
and  Dr.  William  Shippen  gave  a  systematic  course  of  lectures  in 
anatomy  in  1752.  The  record  here  in  New  York  would  seem  to 
show  that  the  authorities  recognized  the  place  of  dissection  in 
medicine,  and  therefore  turned  over  the  body  of  this  executed 
criminal  to  Drs.  Bard  and  Middleton  for  anatomical  purposes. 
According  to  tradition,  this  body  was  carefully  preserved  and 
preparations  were  made  of  various  parts  of  it  so  that  they  might 
be  kept  for  demonstration  purposes. 

Here  in  New  York  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  bodies  for  dis- 
secting purposes  continued  even  after  the  colonies  had  been  freed 


382 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


from  English  rule,  and  as  a  consequence  resurrectionism  (that 
is,  the  obtaining  of  bodies  surreptitiously  from  graves  where  they 
had  been  recently  buried)  was  practised.  This  led  to  a  great  deal 
of  ill-feeling  and  no  little  prejudice  against  the  medical  teachers, 
and  the  feeling  grew  until  in  1788,  as  I  have  said,  there  was  an 
outburst  of  popular  prejudice  which  led  to  the  destruction  of 
some  valuable  property  and  even  endangered  the  lives  of  some 
physicians.  This  was  the  so-called  ''Doctors'  Mob,''  or  "Doctors' 
Riot,"  the  details  of  which  are  thus  described  in  the  New  York 
Packet  for  April  15,  1788.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
journal  took  the  side  of  the  physicians  in  the  matter : 

Information  has  been  given  to  some  persons  in  the  city;  that  several 
subjects  for  dissection  had  been  dragged  out  of  their  graves  and  carried 
to  the  hospital  for  the  purpose — a  long  practise,  which,  it  is  said,  some 
of  the  young  doctors  are  charged  with,  which  has  been  the  cause  of  loud 
complaints  against  them  for  some  months  past.  Last  Sabbath  afternoon, 
a  number  assembled  and  broke  into  the  hospital,  where  'tis  said  some 
mangled  bodies  of  the  dead  were  found — ^in  consequence  of  which  a  con- 
siderable dust  was  kicked  up,  and  sundry  doctors  and  others  were  con- 
siderably mauled. — His  honor  the  Mayor  and  Sheriff,  with  the  help  of  some 
other  gentlemen,  got  the  populace  dispersed;  but  in  this  laudable  attempt, 
several  of  them  received  blows,  much  abuse  and  insult. — Yesterday  the 
fray  revived — a  number  of  persons  forced  their  way  into  a  number  of 
suspected  doctors'  houses,  and  we  hear  did  much  mischief  and  damage. 
Several  got  much  bruised  and  wounded  in  the  fray,  who  were  attempting 
to  dissuade  and  prevent  unnecessary  depredation  and  waste  of  private 
property.  It  is  sincerely  wished  that  our  fellow  citizens  would  manifest 
their  zeal  against  vice  and  wickedness  (as  it  abounds  in  the  city)  which 
kill  men's  souls  and  be  less  zealous  for  the  preservation  of  the  duller 
part.  However  we  would  not  wish  to  be  understood  by  this  hint,  to 
apologize  for  those  whjo  wantonly,  and  perhaps  unnecessarily  disturb  the 
ashes  of  the  dead;  at  any  rate,  numbers  are  in  danger  of  being  called  in 
question  for  this  day's  uproar. 

The  story  of  ' '  the  Doctors '  Mob, ' '  as  told  in  its  details  ten  days 
later  in  the  New  York  Packet,  shows  how  the  feelings  of  the 
community  had  been  aroused  and  how  serious  was  the  danger  to 
which  physicians  were  subjected : 

On  Sunday,  the  13th  inst.,  a  number  of  boys,  we  are  informed,  who 
were  playing  in  the  rear  of  the  Hospital,  perceived  a  limb  which  was  im- 
prudently hung  out  of  a  window  to  dry;  they  immediately  informed  some 
persons — a  multitude  soon  collected — entered  the  Hospital,  and  in  their 
fury  destroyed  a  number  of  anatomical  preparations;  some  of  which  we 
are  told  were  imported  from  foreign  countries — one  or  two  fresh  sub- 


THE  DOCTORS'  RIOT 


383 


jects  were  also  found — all  of  which  were  interred  the  same  evening.  Sev- 
eral young  doctors  narrowly  escaped  the  fury  of  the  people;  and  would 
inevitably  have  suffered  very  seriously,  had  not  his  Honor,  the  Mayor, 
the  Sheriff  and  some  other  persons  interfered  and  rescued  them,  by  lodg- 
ing them  in  gaol.  The  friends  to  good  order  hoped  that  the  affair  would 
end  here;  but  they  were  unhappily  mistaken. 

On  Monday  morning  a  number  of  people  collected,  and  were  deter- 
mined to  search  the  houses  of  the  suspected  physicians.  His  excellency 
the  Governor,  His  Honor  the  Chancellor,  and  His  Worship  The  Mayor, 
finding  that  the  passions  of  the  people  were  irritated,  went  among  them 
and  endeavored  to  dissuade  them  from  committing  unnecessary  depreda- 
tions.— They  addressed  the  people  pathetically,  and  promised  them  every 
satisfaction,  which  the  laws  of  the  country  can  give.  This  had  consider- 
able effect  upon  many;  who,  after  examining  the  houses  of  the  suspected 
doctors,  retired  to  their  homes.— But  in  the  afternoon  the  affair  assumed 
a  different  aspect.  A  mob,  more  fond  of  riot  and  confusion  than  a  re- 
liance upon  the  promises  of  the  Magistrates  and  obedience  to  the  laws; 
went  to  the  gaol,  and  demanded  the  doctors  who  were  there  imprisoned. 
The  Magistrates  finding  that  the  mild  language  of  persuasion  was  of 
no  avail  were  obliged  to  order  out  the  militia,  to  suppress  the  riot,  to 
maintain  the  dignity  of  government,  and  protect  the  gaol.  A  small  party 
of  about  eighteen  armed  men  assembled  at  3  o^clock,  and  marched  thither 
— the  mob  permitted  them  to  pass  through  with  no  other  insult  than  a  few 
volleys  of  stones,  dirt,  &c.  Another  party  of  about  12  men,  about  an 
hour  afterwards,  made  a  similar  attempt  but  having  no  orders  to  resist, 
the  mob  surrounded  them,  seized  and  destroyed  their  arms.  This  gave 
the  mobility  fresh  courage — they  then  endeavored  to  force  the  gaol,  but 
were  repulsed  by  a  handful  of  men,  who  bravely  sustained  an  attack  of 
several  hours.  They  then  destroyed  the  windows  of  that  building  with 
stones,  and  tore  down  part  of  the  fence. — At  dusk  another  party  of  armed 
citizens  marched  to  the  relief  of  the  gaol;  and  as  they  approached  it,  the 
mob  huzzaing,  began  a  heavy  fire  with  stones,  brick  bats,  &c.  Several 
of  this  party  were  much  hurt,  and  in  their  own  defence  were  obliged  to 
fire;  upon  which  three  or  four  persons  were  killed,  and  a  number  wounded. 
The  mob  shortly  after  dispersed. 

On  Tuesday  morning  the  militia  of  General  Malcolm's  Brigade  and  Col. 
Bauman's  regiment  of  artillery  were  ordered  out;  and  a  detachment  from 
each  were  under  arms  during  that  day,  and  the  subsequent  night.  But 
happily  the  mob  did  not  again  collect,  and  the  peace  of  the  city  is  once 
more  restored. 

The  riot  was,  to  sum  up,  a  rather  serious  matter,  though  one  might 
be  inclined  to  think  of  it  as  amusing,  to  look  back  at  it  now.  It 
was  an  angry  unmanageable  crowd  that  gathered,  determined 
to  put  an  end  to  all  dissection  and  the  temptation  that  the  dis- 
section course  afforded  of  securing  bodies  surreptitiously.  For- 
tunately the  jail  was  not  far  away,  and  the  students  and  doctors 


384 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


took  refuge  there,  but  with  a  mob  close  at  their  heels.  Nor  was 
the  mob  easy  to  deal  with  when  the  authorities  had  been  sum- 
moned and  made  their  appearance  to  prevent  further  destruction. 
Mayor  James  Duane  read  the  riot  act,  backed  by  a  handful  of 
militia;  and  a  number  of  prominent  citizens  attempted  to  exert 
the  weight  of  their  dignity  to  prevent  further  disorder.  John  Jay 
and  peppery  old  Baron  Steuben,  of  Revolutionary  fame,  came  on 
the  scene,  but  without  pacifying  effect.  The  mob  hustled  the  dig- 
nitaries quite  undignifiedly,  and  poor  Baron  Steuben  was  knocked 
down.  He  quite  lost  his  temper,  and,  his  military  training  get- 
ting the  better  of  him,  it  was  he  who  called  out  to  the  mayor, 
*'Fire!  Duane,  Fire,"  and  the  militia  fired,  killing  seven  rioters 
and  wounding  many  more.  This  salutary  lesson  had  its  effect,  and 
the  mob  dispersed. 

The  suspicions  of  the  mob  as  to  any  wholesale  resurrecting  of 
bodies  seem  to  have  been  quite  without  foundation.  Dr.  Richard 
Bay  ley  made  an  affidavit  which  appeared  in  the  New  York  Jour- 
nal and  Patriotic  Daily  Register  for  Tuesday,  April  15th,  deny- 
ing absolutely  that  there  was  any  ground  for  the  suspicions  of 
the  mob  that  any  bodies  in  his  dissecting  room  were  obtained  sur- 
reptitiously from  any  place  of  burial  where  respectable  people 
were  interred.  To  a  reader  of  his  affidavit  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-five years  afterwards,  it  seems  as  though  he  deliberately  em- 
phasized churchyards  and  cemeteries  connected  with  public  places 
of  worship,  without  making  any  similar  affirmation  as  regards  the 
Potter's  Field  or  perhaps  other  secular  public  burial  places.  The 
affidavit  is  worded  so  that  he  denies  any  agency  or  concern  ''in 
removing  the  bodies  of  any  person  or  persons  interred  in  any 
churchyard  or  cemetery,  belonging  to  any  place  of  public  wor- 
ship, and  that  he  hath  not  offered  any  sum  of  money  to  procure 
any  human  bodies  so  interred  for  the  purposes  of  dissection  and 
further  that  no  person  or  persons  under  his  tuition  have  had  any 
agency  or  concern  in  digging  up  or  removing  any  dead  body  in- 
terred in  any  of  the  Churchyards  or  cemeteries  to  his  knowledge 
or  belief."  A  similar  affidavit  was  made  by  Dr.  Charles  Mc- 
Knight  and  his  pupils  Ebenezer  Graham,  John  Parker,  and  George 
Gillaspy,  and  also  by  John  Hicks,  Senior. 

The  ''Doctors'  Riot"  naturally  attracted  a  great  deal  of  atten- 
tion throughout  the  country,  and  indeed  it  has  been  said  that  the 
best  accounts  of  the  whole  incident  are  to  be  found  in  the  New 


THE  DOCTORS'  RIOT 


385 


York  letters  of  the  Boston  and  Philadelphia  papers.  By  this  is 
meant,  that  these  writers  waited  until  they  could  get  a  reason- 
ably detailed  account  of  the  whole  set  of  incidents,  and  then  wrote 
them  out  more  briefly  but  more  connectedly  than  they  can  be 
gleaned  from  the  New  York  papers  of  the  immediately  succeeding 
days,  when  the  real  significance  of  details  was  obscured  by  the 
proximity  of  the  events.^ 

It  has  sometimes  been  said,  as  for  instance  by  Dr.  Toner  in 
his  Annals  of  Medical  Progress"  and  by  those  who  follow  his 
usually  rather  exact  statements,  that  this  "Doctors'  Mob"  in 
New  York  marked  the  last  serious  resistance  from  the  populace  to 
the  teaching  of  practical  anatomy  in  America.  Dr.  Hartwell 
pointed  out,  however,  that  the  very  next  year  there  was  mob 
violence  in  Baltimore,  and  the  body  of  a  recently  executed  crim- 
inal was  discovered  by  the  populace  and  taken  from  the  gentle- 
men who  were  then  studying  anatomy  and  surgery.  Dr.  Hart- 
well  also  cites  Dr.  Potter's  pamphlet  published  in  1838,  entitled 
*'Some  Account  of  The  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  University  of 
Maryland,"  in  which  is  told  the  story  of  the  destruction  nearly 
fifty  years  after  the  New  York  Doctors'  Riot,"  of  the  anatomical 
theatre  of  Dr.  John  B.  Davidge,  a  private  teacher  of  anatomy  and 
surgery.  This  small  anatomical  theatre  had  been  erected  by  Dr. 
Davidge  at  his  ovm  expense  on  ground  of  his  own.  It  was  acci- 
dentally discovered  by  the  populace  that  he  had  provided  a  series 
of  subjects  for  dissection.  Some  boys  gathered  before  the  door 
having  called  attention  to  this  fact,  a  large  mob  accumulated  and 
demolished  the  house,  putting  a  period  to  all  further  proceedings 
for  that  season.  Dr.  Potter  adds  that  *'such  were  the  vulgar 
prejudices  against  dissections  that  little  sympathy  was  felt  for  the 
doctor's  loss."  There  is  even  an  account  of  a  riot  for  similar 
reasons  in  New  Haven  over  thirty  years  after  our  New  York  ex- 
perience, that  is,  about  the  year  1820,  and  the  last  of  these  anti- 
dissection  troubles  of  a  serious  nature  did  not  come,  as  I  have 
pointed  out  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  until  the  riot  in  St. 

^Indeed,  on  Tuesday,  April  15th,  1788,  the  New  YorTc  Journal  and 
Patriotio  Daily  Eegister  apologized  for  not  being  able  to  obtain  ''a  con- 
cise statement  of  the  sad  confusion  of  the  City  since  last  Sunday  for  this 
day's  paper,"  and  so  it  was  thought  proper  to  postpone  it  until  such  and 
such  a  one  could  be  had.    Dr.  Hartwell  in  quoting  the  passage  suggests, 

imagine  the  New  York  Herald  apologizing  for  its  inability  to  give  a 
concise  statement  concerning  a  riot  two  days  old." 


386 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Louis  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  fifth  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

The  first  hint  of  any  legal  provision  of  anatomical  material  in 
this  country  came  some  five  years  before  our  New  York  ''Doctors^ 
Riot."  It  was  the  Massachusetts  Law  of  1784,  by  the  terms  of 
which  the  bodies  of  those  killed  in  duels  and  of  those  executed  for 
killing  another  in  a  duel,  might  be  given  up  to  the  surgeons  "to 
be  dissected  and  anatomized."  It  is  curiously  interesting  to  note 
that  this  was  almost  exactly  a  reversion  to  the  old  ecclesiastical 
laws  of  the  Middle  Ages  according  to  which  the  bodies  of  those 
killed  in  tournaments  might  be  given  for  dissection.  In  Massa- 
chusetts the  body  was  to  be  delivered  '  *  to  any  surgeon  or  surgeons 
to  be  dissected  and  anatomized  that  shall  request  the  same  and 
engage  to  apply  the  body  to  that  use."  The  alternative  left  to 
the  coroner  in  the  disposition  of  the  remains  was  ''that  the  body  of 
a  person  so  killed  should  be  buried  without  a  coffin  at  or  near  the 
usual  place  of  the  execution  of  criminals,  with  a  stake  drove 
through  the  body."  In  this  law,  however,  there  was  no  hint 
conveyed  that  the  legislators  had  any  intention  of  recognizing  the 
value  of  dissection  for  medical  purposes,  nor  of  the  rightful 
claims  of  anatomy  in  the  matter,  nor  that  the  State  had  any 
duties  in  the  matter  of  providing  bodies  for  the  sake  of  the  scien- 
tific teaching  of  medicine  for  the  good  of  the  community. 

It  was  not  until  five  years  later  that  any  formal  expression  of 
these  ideas  was  embodied  in  legal  regulation,  and  then  it  was 
New  York  that  was  the  first  of  our  states  by  Section  2  of  its  Act 
of  1789,  which  dared  to  establish  by  legal  enactment  the  manifest 
obligation  of  government  that  ''science  might  not  be  injured  by 
preventing  the  dissecting  of  proper  subjects."  This  section  pro- 
vided : 

That  when  any  offender  shall  be  convicted  of  murder,  arson  or  bur- 
glary, for  which  he  shall  be  sentenced  to  suffer  death,  the  court  may  at 
their  discretion  add  to  the  judgment  that  the  body  of  such  offender  shall 
be  delivered  to  the  surgeons  for  dissection."  This  act  was  passed  Janu- 
ary 6th,  1789,  the  legislation  having  manifestly  for  its  immediate  occa- 
sion the  Doctors'  Riot  of  the  preceding  year,  for  the  first  section  of  the 
act  makes  the  removal  of  any  dead  body  from  its  place  of  sepulchre  for 
the  purpose  of  dissection  a  criminal  offence,  and  adds  further  that  any 
person  convicted  of  this  offence,  "shall  be  adjudged  to  stand  in  the  pillory 
or  to  suffer  other  corporal  punishment  not  extended  to  life  or  limb,  and 


THE  DOCTORS'  RIOT 


387 


shall  also  pay  such  fine  and  suffer  such  imprisonment  as  the  court  shall 
in  their  discretion  think  proper  to  direct. 

Just  a  year  after  the  enactment  by  the  New  York  State  Legis- 
lature of  this  rather  liberal  law  as  regards  dissection,  considering 
the  popular  feeling  of  the  time  in  the  matter,  the  first  Congress 
of  the  United  States  by  an  Act  passed  April  30th,  1790,  gave 
federal  judges  the  discretion  of  adding  dissection  to  the  sentence 
of  convicted  murder.  Six  years  later,  in  1796,  a  similar  act  was 
passed  by  New  Jersey.  This  legislation  seems  to  have  been  in- 
fluenced by  the  New  York  enactment. 

It  seems  clear  that  all  this  legislation  was  designed  rather  to  add 
to  the  deterrent  effect  of  the  punishment  for  murder  and  particu- 
larly for  duelling  rather  than  to  any  desire  to  make  provision  of 
dissecting  material.  The  legislation  was  doubtless  suggested  by 
the  act  of  Parliament  of  England  in  1752,  which  decreed  that 
*  *  some  further  terror  and  peculiar  mark  of  infamy  might  be  added 
to  the  punishment  of  death  by  the  delivery  of  the  body  of  executed 
murderers  to  the  surgeons  for  dissection."  New  York's  law  was 
the  only  legislation  which  stepped  beyond  this  punitive  purpose 
to  recognize,  however  imperfectly,  the  necessity  for  governments 
to  provide  material  for  the  proper  teaching  of  anatomy. 

This  law,  however,  permitted  a  provision  of  bodies  utterly  in- 
adequate for  teaching  purposes,  and  so  it  is  not  surprising  that 
resurrectionism  continued  and  was  encouraged  by  the  prominent 
leaders  in  medicine  and  surgery.  Dr.  Samuel  Francis  has  told 
the  story  of  the  difficulty  of  procuring  anatomical  material  in 
New  York,  and  of  how  students  and  preceptors  used  to  go  out 
on  Long  Island  and  bring  home  the  bodies  of  the  recently  buried 
to  serve  as  dissection  material.  On  a  number  of  occasions  in 
the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  rumors  got  abroad  that 
this  resurrection  work  was  carried  on,  and  then  for  a  time  grave- 
yards would  be  guarded  by  angry  relatives  with  shot  guns,  and 
sometimes  it  was  extremely  dangerous  to  attempt  such  an  expedi- 
tion. Occasionally  when  suspicion  had  been  aroused,  wagons 
would  be  carefully  watched  crossing  the  ferry  to  New  York,  and 
Dr.  Francis  tells,  on  a  cold  day  after  a  successful  "resurrection," 
of  propping  the  corpse  up  beside  the  driver  in  the  wagon,  in 
order  that  it  might  escape  the  vigilance  of  watchers  at  the  Long 
Island  side  of  the  river.  On  one  occasion  when  a  child's  body 
had  been  resurrected,  the  student  who  carried  it  wore  a  large 


388 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


cloak  in  which  there  was  a  huge  pocket.  The  body  was  placed 
in  this,  and,  the  suspicions  of  the  police  having  been  aroused,  a 
band  of  students  hand  in  hand  went  dancing  down  the  street  with 
the  carrier  of  the  body  in  their  midst,  thus  averting  suspicion. 

In  later  life  practically  every  one  of  the  first  half-dozen  pres- 
idents of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine  confessed  to  having 
taken  part  in  body  snatching  in  their  student  days,  or  when  as 
young  physician  teachers  they  had  to  secure  anatomical  material 
for  their  students.  J.  V.  Huntington,  who  before  being  a  clergy- 
man was  a  medical  student,  in  his  story,  ' '  Rosemary, ' '  tells  of  the 
rifling  of  a  grave  and  the  bringing  into  the  dissecting  room  of  the 
body  of  a  young  female  who  had  been  buried  that  afternoon, 
but  proved  not  to  be  dead  and  was  afterwards  resuscitated.  The 
story  of  ''Rosemary"  is  of  course  fiction,  but  it  contains  many 
reminiscences  of  actual  details  of  the  efforts  to  obtain  dissecting 
material  in  the  early  days.  While  as  a  rule  the  graves  of  the 
better-class  folk  were  spared,  this  was  not  always  true ;  and  while 
Long  Island  graveyards  were  more  visited  than  city  cemeteries, 
these  latter  were  not  always  respected,  especially  when  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  inhabitants  of  Long  Island  had  been  aroused,  and  the 
danger  of  capture  was  at  least  as  great  as  in  the  city,  with  even 
more  risk  of  meeting  with  serious  injury,  either  by  shooting  or 
at  the  hands  of  angry  relatives  whose  deepest  feelings  had  been 
aroused  by  what  they  rightly  considered  unjustifiable  outrages 
upon  their  dead. 

Dr.  Valentine  Mott,  the  distinguished  American  surgeon,  looked 
upon  very  probably  in  his  time  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
of  American  surgeons,  told  the  story  in  his  later  life  of  his  ex- 
periences in  obtaining  bodies  for  dissection  when  he  was  a  demon- 
strator in  anatomy.  On  his  return  from  Europe,  where  he  had 
been  particularly  influenced  by  Sir  Astley  Cooper,  whose  greatest 
interest  was  in  dissection,  Mott  very  naturally  took  up  practical 
anatomical  work  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  of  obtaining  dissecting 
material.  In  the  spring  of  1809  he  succeeded  in  getting  permis- 
sion from  the  trustees  of  Columbia  College  to  lecture  and  demon- 
strate on  operative  surgery.  For  this  purpose  he  had  to  provide 
anatomical  material  as  best  he  could.  In  an  address  delivered  at 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  New  York,  over  forty 
years  later  (November  7,  1850),  he  told  very  frankly  of  one  of  his 
resurrection  experiences.    It  was  perhaps  in  order  to  soften  the 


THE  DOCTORS'  RIOT 


389 


account  for  his  audience  that  in  relating  one  incident  he  said 
that  the  body  of  a  man  who  had  been  hanged  was  given  to  the  col- 
lege for  dissection,  and  yet  he  describes  his  having  to  go  and 
exhume  it  from  the  Potter's  Field  under  circumstances  which 
would  seem  to  show  very  clearly  that  the  whole  expedition  was 
surreptitious : 

Material  for  dissection  was  scarce,  and  could  only  be  obtained  by  in- 
dividual enterprise,  and  in  many  such,  now  happily  by  the  existing  state 
of  things  rendered  unnecessary  to  your  advancement  in  knowledge,  have  I 
been  engaged.  I  well  remember  on  one  occasion  driving,  in  disguise,  a 
cart  containing  eleven  subjects,  from  old  Potter's  Field  burying  ground, 
sitting  on  the  subjects,  and  proud  enough  of  my  trophies;  but  we  were 
not  always  so  fortunate,  being  on  many  occasions  discovered  and  pur- 
sued, and  obliged  to  leave  our  spoils  behind  us,  with  only  our  hard  labor 
for  our  pains.  One  little  incident  of  the  times,  also,  occurs  to  me.  A 
German,  who  had  been  hung,  was  given  to  the  college  for  dissection,  and, 
with  the  colored  porter,  I  went  in  a  carriage  in  the  evening  to  get  the 
body.  My  other  associate  was  a  Dr.  Buchanan,  a  Scotchman,  and  pro- 
fessor of  obstetrics  in  the  college,  residing  in  the  city. 

On  calling  at  his  rooms  to  take  him  up,  I  found  him  arranging  his 
pistols,  and  complaining  of  feeling  very  agueish,  and  with  difficulty 
persuaded  him  to  proceed.  The  night  was  cold,  and  on  arriving  on  the 
ground,  the  doctor's  ague  increased  so  rapidly  and  his  valor  oozed,  like 
Bob  Acres',  in  "The  Rivals,"  so  freely  from  the  tips  of  his  fingers,  that 
he  decided  to  return  home,  begging  strongly  for  the  use  of  the  carriage, 
which  I  peremptorily  refused  him.  With  great  difficulty  we  exhumed  the 
body,  but  then  my  colored  associate  also  deserted  me,  declaring  he  could 
not  touch  the  subject,  on  account  of  his  having  been  hung.  I  had,  there- 
fore, to  lug  the  body,  attired  in  its  white  robes,  by  my  own  strength,  to 
the  carriage — for  I  had  great  strength  in  those  days — and  partly  by  force 
and  partly  by  menaces,  compelled  the  man  to  assist  me  in  getting  the 
body  into  the  carriage — and  what  was  still  more  difficult  to  get  in  along 
with  it,  so  thoroughly  was  he  terrified.  On  arriving  at  the  college,  I 
found  my  valorous  associate  slowly  recovering  from  his  ague  fit,  by  the 
aid  of  a  strong  glass  of  brandy  toddy,  and  deeply  lamenting  his  inability 
to  assist  me  on  the  occasion. 

This  difficulty  of  obtaining  bodies  did  not  prevent  teachers  of 
anatomy  and  others  from  doing  dissection  work  either  in  this 
country  or  in  England.  Sir  Astley  Cooper  dissected  every  day 
of  his  life  even  when  travelling,  paying  large  fees  and  liberal  dmc- 
eurs  to  the  body  snatchers.  When  the  English  Anatomical  Bill  was 
up  before  Parliament  he  stated  to  a  committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons  that  there  was  no  person  whatever  might  be  his  worldly 


390 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


place  in  life  whose  body  he  could  not  dissect  if  he  would.  John 
Hunter's  success  in  obtaining  desired  specimens  for  his  museum 
is  well  known.  O'Brien,  the  Irish  giant,  eight  feet  two  in  height, 
interested  Hunter  very  much,  and  he  offered  to  pay  a  liberal  fee 
for  his  skeleton — of  course  after  the  original  owner  would  be 
through  with  it.  O'Brien  was  very  much  disturbed  by  this  offer. 
Hunter  was  persistent,  and  at  last  O'Brien  almost  feared  him. 
When  he  came  to  die  young,  as  giants  usually  do,  O'Brien  made 
arrangements  to  have  his  body  taken  out  some  miles  to  sea  and 
dropped  overboard.  In  spite  of  that  arrangement,  which  was,  I 
believe,  actually  carried  out,  O'Brien's  skeleton  nevertheless  re- 
poses peacefully  in  the  Hunterian  Museum  in  London,  and  dis- 
closes to  this  generation  the  enlarged  sella  turcica  which  gave 
room  for  the  hypertrophy  of  the  hypothesis,  the  enlargement  of 
which  giants  in  Hunter 's  generation  knew  nothing.  According  to  the 
story.  Hunter  had  the  funeral  boat  of  O'Brien's  obsequies  at  sea 
followed,  and  the  body  was  grappled  for  immediately  after  being 
committed  to  the  water,  and  brought  to  shore.  The  moral  is  that 
Hunter  was  more  liberal  in  his  fees  for  the  procurement  of  the 
body  than  O'Brien  had  been  in  his  will  for  his  burial. 

These  underhand  practices  for  the  obtaining  of  bodies  for  dis- 
section and  demonstration  purposes  continued  to  obtain  all  during 
the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  both  England  and 
the  United  States.  The  very  grave  abuses  to  which  such  a  law- 
less system  of  securing  anatomical  material  quite  inevitably  gave 
rise,  continued  to  grow  worse  and  worse  as  medical  education  ad- 
vanced, and  finally  culminated  in  Edinburgh  in  1827.  There  it 
was  found  that  a  series  of  bodies  which  had  been  sold  for  dis- 
secting purposes  to  Robert  Knox,  the  well  known  Scotch  Profes- 
sor of  Anatomy,  had  been  obtained  by  putting  their  original  living 
possessors  to  death  in  cheap  lodging  houses.  The  scheme  is  said 
to  have  originated  in  the  mind  of  one  Burke,  whence  came  a  new 
word  for  the  English  language,  ''Burking,"  which  now  means  to 
smother  a  human  being  (or  a  political  measure),  for  this  was  the 
way  adopted  to  secure  the  bodies  so  that  they  would  not  have  any 
marks  of  violence  in  them.  Burke  was  associated  with  a  landlord 
named  Hare,  and  it  was  his  lodgers  who  were  summarily  disposed 
of.  As  a  rule  they  were  poor  vagrants  found  wandering  round  the 
city  by  nights,  who  were  very  glad,  especially  after  having  been 
supplied  with  whiskey  generously,  to  accept  a  night's  lodging. 


THE  DOCTORS'  RIOT 


391 


Some  of  the  victims  were  street  walkers,  and  the  body  of  one  of 
these,  a  notorious  handsome  woman  of  the  town,  was  discovered  in 
Knox's  anatomical  rooms  when  she  was  missed  from  her  usual 
haunts,  and  this  brought  about  the  revelation  of  the  whole  foul 
procedure.  The  victims  had  usually  been  smothered  between  two 
mattresses,  or,  when  they  were  very  drunk,  by  holding  the  hands 
tightly  over  the  nose  and  mouth. 

Professor  Knox  himself  was  completely  vindicated  so  far  as 
any  connection  with  the  methods  of  procuring  bodies  by  the  gang 
was  concerned,  though  of  course  under  the  circumstances  he  had 
made  no  particular  inquiries  as  to  how  the  bodies  were  secured. 
He  simply  paid  for  them  rather  liberally  when  brought  to  him 
for  his  anatomy  teaching.  Almost  needless  to  say,  the  discoveries 
made  him  very  unpopular,  however.  As  Garrison  says,  ''all  Edin- 
burgh went  wild  on  the  instant,  and  Knox  was  mobbed  by  the 
horrified  populace,  vituperated  by  press  and  pulpit,  and  threat- 
ened with  hanging.  Knox  defended  himself  bravely,  but  without 
much  success  except  as  regards  his  pupils. ' '  ^ 

This  British  scandal  in  the  matter  of  obtaining  bodies  for  dis- 
secting purposes  very  naturally  received  wide  diffusion,  aroused 
the  dormant  common  sense  of  legislators,  and  brought  about  ra- 
tional legislation  for  the  provision  of  bodies  for  dissection  pur- 
poses. The  enabling  laws  for  this  purpose  were  enacted  here  in 
America,  however,  before  they  came  in  England.  Massachusetts 
was  the  pioneer  in  the  early  thirties  in  passing  a  law  giving  the 
bodies  of  paupers  dying  in  State  institutions  and  unclaimed  by 
their  friends,  to  the  legally  instituted  medical  schools  of  the  State. 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania  followed  at  once  in  the  passage  of 
similar  laws,  but  some  of  the  States  did  not  imitate  these  good 
examples  for  many  decades  afterwards. 

3  Knox  is  the  author  of  a  series  of  contributions  to  artistic  anatomy 
which  show  that  he  had  used  whatever  dissection  opportunities  he  had  to  good 
purpose,  and  his  contribution  to  anthropology,  '  *  The  Eaces  of  Man, "  is  a 
classic  on  the  subject. 


APPENDIX 


PHYSICIANS  AND  SPIRITISM  AND  PSYCHISM 
VERY  interesting  story,  not  strictly  medical  and  yet  so 


intimately  assoeiated  with  physicians  and  medical  practice 


in  many  ways  that  to  omit  it  in  the  history  of  medicine  in 
New  York  State  would  be  to  leave  a  serious  gap  in  the  collection  of 
material  necessary  for  a  proper  understanding  of  certain  phases  of 
therapeutics  and  especially  psychotherapy  in  the  past  century,  is 
the  account  of  the  rise  and  spread  of  the  movement  known  as  spirit- 
ualism. This  had  its  modern  origin  in  New  York  State  about  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  very  soon  invaded  the  field 
of  medicine,  because  this  was  a  lucrative  side  issue  for  mediums, 
providing  an  opportunity  for  the  definite  collection  of  fees.  Since, 
according  to  their  own  claims,  they  could  get  directly  in  touch 
with  the  living  spirits  of  the  distinguished  physicians  of  the  past 
and  were  thus  enabled  to  treat  the  clients  who  came  to  them  in 
their  seances  with  the  genius  of  Hippocrates  or  Galen  or  Syden- 
ham, that  genius  presumably  having  been  refined  and  amplified 
by  experience  of  the  spirit  world,  why  should  they  not  charge 
at  least  regular  medical  fees?  A  great  many  religious  healers 
have  argued  in  something  of  this  same  way,  and  have  made  quite 
as  good  a  thing  out  of  it  as  the  spiritualistic  mediums  did. 

There  is  another  intimate  association  between  spiritualism  and 
medicine,  however,  for  it  was  mainly  physicians  who  took  up  seri- 
ously the  work  of  exposing  these  frauds  and  indicating  the  means 
by  which  they  produced  their  effects.  The  **rappings"  which 
represented  the  first  of  the  so-called  spiritistic  phenomena  that 
were  to  attract  so  much  attention  during  more  than  a  score  of 
years  after  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  were  demon- 
strated by  a  committee  of  physicians,  members  of  the  faculty  of 
the  University  of  Buffalo  Medical  School,  among  whom  at  the 
time  was  our  own  distinguished  Dr.  Austin  Flint,  to  be  due  to 
partial  subluxations  of  joints,  with  sudden  repositions.  These 
internal  joint  movements  brought  about  the  production  of  dull 


393 


394 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


sounds  very  closely  resembling  muffled  raps  that  could  be  heard  for 
a  considerable  distance. 

Besides,  this  chapter  in  the  history  of  typical  superstition  oc- 
curring in  the  midst  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  of  very  special 
interest  to  physicians  because  it  demonstrates  very  clearly  that 
the  people  of  the  modern  time,  in  spite  of  the  diffusion  of  popu- 
lar education,  are  just  as  ready  and  willing  to  be  deceived  by 
impossible  claims  of  marvelous  ultramundane  power  and  absurd 
statements  as  to  therapeutic  results,  as  they  ever  were  at  any 
time  in  history.  The  feeling  that  popular  education  has  made 
mankind  more  sensible  or  more  reasonable  is  evidently  founded 
on  a  fallacy.  The  ability  to  read  and  write  has  only  made  it 
possible  to  diffuse  such  superstitious  notions  very  widely  and 
more  rapidly  than  ever  before.  Indeed,  this  phase  of  supersti- 
tion, spiritualism,  beginning  in  a  manifest  fraud  in  a  small  town 
in  Northern  New  York  and  spreading  so  rapidly  throughout  the 
world  within  a  decade  or  two  of  years,  illustrates  the  fact  that 
the  power  of  the  printing  press  far  from  being  always  beneficial 
may  be  productive  of  serious  harm.  There  is  probably  no  paral- 
lel chapter  in  the  history  of  superstitions  related  to  medicine  in 
which  the  diffusion  and  popularization  of  doctrines  have  been 
so  rapid  and  have  affected  so  many  people  in  so  short  a  time. 

For  those  who  are  interested  in  the  rise  and  rapid  spread  of 
Dowieism  and  of  Eddyism  in  the  modem  time,  and  who  are 
prone  to  wonder  what  will  become  of  so-called  Christian  science, 
and  who  are  perhaps  inclined  to  think  that  there  has  never  before 
been  a  movement  so  widespread,  a  chapter  on  spiritualism  and 
its  relations  to  medicine  and  to  physicians  only  a  generation  ago 
will  be  a  striking  lesson  from  American  history  of  the  almost 
ludicrously  simple  origin,  yet  the  rapid  progress  and  then  the 
inevitable  but  gradual  disintegration  of  a  movement  of  this  kind 
in  our  own  country.  In  proportion  to  the  whole  population  of 
the  United  States  there  were,  according  to  their  ovm  claims  at 
least,  many  more  spiritualists  in  this  country  about  1870  than 
there  are  of  Christian  Scientists  at  the  present  time.  Spiritual- 
ism has,  however,  vanished  almost  entirely  as  a  cult,  though  there 
still  remain  a  certain  number  of  mediums  who  give  seances  regu- 
larly to  a  handful  of  devotees  here  and  there  in  the  large  cities 
throughout  the  country.  The  analogies  between  spiritualism  and 
Eddyism  multiply  the  more  one  knows  about  both  cults,  and,  their 


SPIRITISM  AND  PSYCHISM 


395 


rise  and  spread  having  many  elements  in  common,  it  would  not 
be  surprising  to  have  their  ultimate  disposition  resemble  each 
other. 

Modern  spiritualism  may  be  said  to  have  had  its  rise  at  Hydes- 
ville,  a  small  village  in  the  township  of  Arcadia,  m  Wayne 
county,  New  York.  This  portion  of  New  York  State  has  been 
particularly  prolific  in  special  revelations  of  various  kinds.  Be- 
sides spiritualism,  Mormonism  had  its  rise  here,  for  though  its 
founder,  Joe  Smith,  was  bom  in  Vermont,  he  dug  up  the  gold 
plates  of  Mormonism,  so  he  said,  in  this  region.  The  Shakers 
and  various  other  curious  communities  have  tried  out  their  experi- 
ments in  communistic  life  under  special  religious  guidance  not 
far  from  here,  and  in  recent  years  the  "Holy  Rollers"  have  had 
their  home  in  the  same  quarter.  The  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  had  an  abundance  of  special  religious  manifestations  here, 
but  the  second  part  of  the  century  was  not  entirely  without 
them,  and  it  is  generally  understood  that  the  neighborhood  of 
Rochester  is  a  good  field  for  spiritistic  manifestations  of  many 
kinds. 

The  famous  Fox  sisters  (their  names  were  Voss)  were  the 
authors  or  discoverers  of  modern  ' '  spirit  rapping, ' '  the  first  mani- 
festations of  which  occurred  in  1848.  The  Fox  family  were  very 
much  disturbed  by  reason  of  raps  and  other  noises  made  in  the 
house.  Finally,  one  of  the  daughters  challenged  the  raps,  and 
they  answered,  sound  for  sound,  the  noises  which  she  made  by 
snapping  her  fingers.  This  proved  an  intelligent  cause  for  the 
raps,  and  the  neighbors  were  summoned,  a  code  was  arranged, 
and  when  questions  were  asked,  raps  indicative  of  ''yes"  and 
''no,"  or  silence,  when  the  question  asked  was  not  true,  came  to  be 
understood.  People  gathered  from  all  over  to  hear  the  strange 
phenomena,  and  their  ages  were  told  and  various  other  questions 
of  special  interest  answered.  At  first  it  was  said  that  the  raps 
came  from  the  disturbed  spirit  of  a  peddler  who  had  disappeared 
not  far  from  the  house  into  which  the  Foxes  had  moved  shortly 
before,  and  some  remains  were  said  to  have  been  found  in  the 
cellar,  but  this  story  was  disproved,  and  the  idea  of  an  old  fash- 
ioned ghostly  visitant  entirely  given  up  as  the  possibilities  for  the 
exploitation  of  the  public  by  having  a  series  of  spirits  answer  their 
calls  came  to  be  recognized. 

The  origin  of  the  mysterious  rappings  continued  to  be  shrouded 


396 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


in  obscurity,  though  the  subject  of  much  active  discussion,  until 
the  end  of  1850,  when  the  Fox  girls  went  to  Buffalo,  New  York, 
and  stayed  there  for  some  weeks  giving  public  exhibitions  of  their 
supposed  marvelous  powers.  Professor  Austin  Flint,  with  Pro- 
fessors Lee  and  Coventry,  who  were  his  colleagues  in  the  medi- 
cal school  of  the  University  of  Buffalo,  made  a  special  investiga- 
tion, and  at  the  beginning  of  the  following  year  wrote  a  joint  let- 
ter to  the  Buffalo  Commercial  Advertiser  pointing  out  that  the 
rappings  could  be  explained  by  movements  of  the  joints,  and 
stating  further  that  a  lady  of  their  acquaintance  had  actually 
produced  similar  sounds  by  that  means.  They  were  at  once  chal- 
lenged to  prove  the  truth  of  this  theory  by  a  personal  investi- 
gation and  interview,  and  they  accepted  the  challenge.  Their 
report  is  an  interesting  document  in  the  history  of  New  York 
medicine : 

The  invitation  thus  proposed  was  accepted  by  those  to  whom  it  was 
addressed,  and  on  the  following  evening,  by  appointment,  the  examination 
took  place.  After  a  short  delay,  the  two  Rochester  females  [the  Fox 
sisters]  being  seated  on  a  sofa,  the  knockings  commenced,  and  were  con- 
tinued for  some  time  in  loud  tones  and  rapid  succession.  The  "spirits" 
were  then  asked  whether  they  would  manifest  themselves  during  the  sitting 
and  respond  to  interrogatories.  A  series  of  raps  followed,  which  were  in- 
terpreted into  a  reply  in  the  affirmative.  The  two  females  were  then 
seated  upon  two  chairs  placed  near  together,  their  heels  resting  on  cushions, 
their  lower  limbs  extended,  with  the  toes  elevated,  and  the  feet  separated 
from  each  other.  The  object  in  this  experiment  was  to  secure  a  position 
in  which  the  ligaments  of  the  knee  joint  should  be  made  tense,  and  no 
opportunity  offered  to  make  pressure  with  the  foot.  We  were  pretty 
well  satisfied  that  the  displacement  of  the  bones  requisite  for  the  sounds 
could  not  be  effected  unless  a  fulcrum  were  obtained  by  resting  one  foot 
upon  the  other,  or  on  some  resisting  body.  The  company  seated  in  a  semi- 
circle, quietly  waited  for  the  "manifestations"  for  more  than  half  an  hour, 
but  the  "spirits,"  generally  so  noisy,  were  now  dumb.  On  resuming  the 
usual  position  on  the  sofa,  the  feet  resting  on  the  floor,  knockings  soon 
began  to  be  heard.  It  was  then  suggested  that  some  other  experiment  be 
made.  This  was  assented  to,  notwithstanding  the  first  was,  in  our  minds, 
amply  conclusive.  The  experiment  selected  was,  that  the  knees  of  the 
two  females  should  be  firmly  grasped,  with  the  hands  so  applied  that  any 
lateral  movement  of  the  bones  would  be  perceptible  to  the  touch.  The 
pressure  was  made  through  the  dress.  It  was  not  expected  to  prevent 
the  sound,  but  to  ascertain  if  they  proceeded  from  the  knee-joint.  It  is 
obvious  that  this  experiment  was  necessarily  far  less  demonstrative  to  an 
observer  than  the  first,  because  if  the  bones  were  distinctly  felt  to  move 
the  only  evidence  of  this  fact  would  be  the  testimony  of  those  whose  hands 


SPIRITISM  AND  PSYCHISM 


397 


were  in  contact  with  them.  The  hands  were  kept  in  apposition  for  several 
minutes  at  a  time,  and  the  experiment  repeated  frequently  for  the  course 
of  an  hour  or  more  with  negative  results;  that  is  to  say,  there  were  plenty 
of  raps  when  the  knees  were  not  held  and  none  when  the  hands  were  ap- 
plied save  once.  As  the  pressure  was  intentionally  somewhat  relaxed 
(Dr.  Lee  being  the  holder),  two  or  three  faint,  single  raps  were  heard,  and 
Dr.  Lee  immediately  averred  that  the  motion  of  the  bone  was  plainly  per- 
ceptible to  him.  The  experiment  of  seizing  the  knees  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible when  the  knockings  first  commenced  was  tried  several  times,  but 
always  with  the  effect  of  putting  an  immediate  quietus  upon  the  manifes- 
tations. The  conclusion  seemed  clear  that  the  Rochester  knockings  ema- 
nate from  the  knee  joint.  Since  the  exposition  was  published  we  heard  of 
several  cases  in  which  movements  of  the  bones  entering  into  other  articu- 
lations are  produced  by  muscular  effort,  giving  rise  to  sounds.  We  have 
heard  of  a  person  who  can  develop  knockings  from  the  ankle,  of  several 
who  can  produce  noises  with  the  joints  of  the  toes  and  fingers,  of  one  who 
can  render  loudly  audible  the  shoulder,  and  another  the  hip-joint.  We 
have  also  heard  of  two  additional  cases  in  which  sounds  are  produced  by 
the  knee-joint. 

After  a  time  the  Fox  sisters  and  some  of  their  relatives  con- 
fessed that  the  rappings  had  been  produced  by  partial  subluxa- 
tions of  toes  and  other  joints,  but  particularly  produced  v^^ithin 
the  foot.  Occasionally  striking  manifestations,  especially  louder 
noises,  were  produced  by  the  agency  of  confederates.  The  foot 
noises  were  difficult  of  production  if  the  feet  were  cold,  but  could 
be  made  rather  readily  after  practice  when  the  feet  were  warm. 
Warm  foot  baths  were  usually  taken  shortly  before  a  seance, 
and  then  the  noises  would  be  particularly  clear.  The  sound  re- 
sembled that  made  by  a  gloved  hand  striking  beneath  the  table.^ 

^  In  the  course  of  some  lectures  on  ''Borderland  Phenomena,"  given  for 
a  charity  at  one  of  the  hotels  in  New  York,  I  induced  Professor  Merrigan, 
then  Professor  of  Anatomy  at  the  Fordham  University  School  of  Medicine, 
to  volunteer  to  produce  such  noises  in  order  to  illustrate  this  phase  of  the 
old  spirit  rapping.  By  partially  dislocating  through  muscular  action  the 
phalangeal  joints  of  his  third  toe,  he  was  able  without  removing  his  shoe 
and  without  any  visible  movement  of  his  leg  or  foot  to  emphasize  it,  to 
produce  a  sound  very  much  like  a  rap  beneath  the  stage  which  was  heard 
throughout  a  ballroom  capable  of  seating  600  or  700  persons,  and  which 
was  actually  heard  by  all  of  the  audience  of  500  or  so  who  were  present. 
By  careful  inspection  a  slight  movement  of  his  shoe  above  the  third  toe 
could  be  noticed,  but  nothing  more.  It  was  very  easy  to  understand  how 
noises  of  that  kind  simulating  a  rap  beneath  the  table  when  heard  in  the 
dark  and  after  a  period  of  anxious  expectancy  might  very  well  be  taken  for 
attempts  of  the  spirits  to  get  into  communication  with  a  group  of  human 
beings. 


398  MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Subsequently  the  Fox  sisters  withdrew  their  confession  and 
went  back  to  their  mediumistic  practices.  As  they  said  to  a  cler- 
ical friend  afterwards,  ''it  was  such  a  comfortable  easy  way  of 
making  a  living,  and  it  was  such  good  fun  to  pit  one's  wits  suc- 
cessfully against  those  of  the  investigators  who  came  so  confident 
of  their  ability  not  to  be  fooled,"  that  it  was  hard  to  give  it  up 
entirely.  They  seem  to  have  been,  though  the  originators  of  a 
movement  that  carried  away  with  it  many  sincere  minds,  rather 
conscious  frauds.  There  is  no  doubt  at  all  but  that  a  good  many 
others  who  took  up  the  movement  thus  initiated,  fooled  themselves 
to  some  degree  at  least  as  well  as  others,  being  carried  off  by 
certain  subconscious  tendencies  and  a  sort  of  secondary  person- 
ality independent  of  their  normal  being  which  manifested  itself 
under  the  special  circumstance.  It  is  always  when  the  apostles 
of  new  doctrines,  medical  or  spiritual,  believe  in  themselves  that 
they  succeed  in  making  the  most  converts  and  bringing  adherents 
to  their  mode  of  thinking. 

It  would  be  almost  impossible  to  believe,  only  for  the  actual 
facts  in  the  case,  that  a  movement  beginning  so  simply  as  this, 
among  a  country  population,  in  a-  family  absolutely  without  edu- 
cation, could  deeply  influence  the  intellectual  world  of  the  time, 
but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  course  of  ten  years  spiritualism 
became  the  subject  of  more  discussion  and  occupation  of  mind 
than  any  other  serious  phase  of  thought.  Spirit  rapping  devel- 
oped into  spirit  writing,  and  then  into  spirit  messages  of  all  kinds 
and  finally  came  materializations  when  the  spirits  showed  them- 
selves in  bodily  form  and  communicated  directly  with  humanity. 
In  the  introduction  to  his  book,  * '  The  Newer  Spiritualism, ' '  Frank 
Podmore,  whose  contributions  to  the  history  and  significance  of 
this  subject  have  made  him  an  authority  in  the  matter,  has  re- 
viewed the  whole  movement  with  regard  to  spiritistic  phenomena 
in  a  paragraph  that  emphasizes  at  once  the  wide  spread  of  the 
cult  and  the  present  state  of  opinion  with  regard  to  the  manifes- 
tations of  that  period; 

The  movement  spread  to  Europe  in  the  early  fifties;  and  by  1870  there 
was  scarcely  a  town  of  any  importance  in  the  civilised  world  which  did 
not  boast  its  regular  circle  of  "inquirers,"  whilst  upward  of  a  hundred 
periodicals  devoted  themselves  to  chronicling  the  doings  of  the  spiritual 
world,  as  revealed  in  the  seance-room  and  in  "inspirational"  lectures. 
The  movement  remained  at  its  zenith  for  a  few  years,  and  then  rapidly 


SPIRITISM  AND  PSYCHISM 


399 


declined.  Those,  indeed,  who  had  once  been  convinced  remained  for  the 
most  part  convinced  believers  still.  But  the  faith  of  such  as  were  still 
in  their  novitiate  was  seriously  checked  by  the  constant  exposure  of  fraud 
at  materialisation  seances,  in  spirit  photography,  and  other  marvels  of  the 
kind.  And  the  decline  of  the  belief  was  hastened  by  the  increased  atten- 
tion given  by  medical  men  and  others  to  the  obscure  mental  states  from 
which  the  belief  in  the  first  instance  had  its  rise.  Men  saw  that  the  out- 
pourings of  the  entranced  subject  and  the  revelations  of  the  crystal  and  of 
planchette  could  reasonably  be  classed  with  other  manifestations  of  au- 
tomatism and  unconscious  cerebration;  and  that  to  invoke  spiritual  agency 
would,  in  most  cases,  be  as  rational  as  to  ascribe  the  ravings  of  delirium 
to  demoniac  possession,  or  the  journeyings  of  the  sleepwalker  to  angelic 
guidance. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  spiritualistic  movement,  mediums,  even 
though  poor  themselves,  did  not  accept  money  for  their  services, 
though,  after  a  time,  their  friends  subscribed  for  their  support. 
Later  revelations  came  from  the  spirits,  insisting  that  the  laborer 
was  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  those  who  were  instruments  of  the 
spiritual  world  and  conferred  so  much  benefit  on  mankind  it 
was  urged  ought  to  be  kept  free  from  the  distractions  of  the 
active  life  or  any  absorbing  business  necessary  for  their  main- 
tenance. Even  before  these  special  revelations  were  accorded, 
however,  it  came  to  be  understood  that  prescriptions  obtained 
from  the  spirit  world  for  the  cure  of  various  ills  should  be  paid 
for  just  as  those  obtained  from  mundane  physicians,  though,  of 
course,  at  a  proportionately  higher  rate,  according  to  their  value, 
for  they  came  from  the  supreme  masters  of  medicine  in  the  Great 
Beyond.  The  Spiritual  Telegraph,  the  journal  which  was  one  of 
the  earliest  modes  of  communication  between  the  adherents  of  the 
cult,  carried  only  a  few  advertisements  of  mediums  and  these 
were  exclusively  of  medical  clairvoyants  who  charged  a  fee  for 
diagnosing  and  prescribing.  This  is  always  the  readily  lucrative 
side  of  all  these  curiously  interesting  psychological  and  spiritistic 
movements.  They  find  their  easiest  way  of  imposing  on  mankind 
for  their  own  benefit  by  ''curing  their  ills.'' 

Nor  must  it  be  thought  that  spiritualism  spread  exclusively 
among  unscientific  people  incapable  of  weighing  evidence  on  scien- 
tific principles  for  the  cult  was  not  without  its  thoroughly  scientific 
supporters.  The  most  prominent  among  these  doubtless  was  Pro- 
fessor Hare,  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania.  Hare  experienced  a  wonderful  series  of  spiritistic  mani- 


400 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


festations  while  he  was  on  his  way  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  held  that 
year  in  Montreal.  He  was  accompanied  by  a  boy  medium,  and 
keys  disappeared  and  were  found  in  places  indicated  by  the 
medium;  other  articles  could  not  be  found  when  looked  for,  and 
later  made  their  appearance,  dropping  from  above  him,  sometimes 
being  taken  out  of  locked  receptacles,  and  a  number  of  similar 
phenomena,  afterwards  very  familiar  mediumistic  experiences  and 
all  at  one  time  or  another  exposed  as  fraudulent  in  origin,  were 
reported. 

Professor  Hare  made  a  series  of  experiments  over  a  period  of 
two  years  and  became  a  complete  convert  to  spiritualism.  He 
constructed  certain  apparatus  for  demonstrating  levitation  and 
other  such  phenomena  which  furnished  the  model  for  the  more 
elaborate  experiments  of  a  similar  nature  conducted  by  Sir  Wil- 
liam Crookes.  Dr.  Hare's  book,  ''Experimental  Investigation  and 
the  Spirit  Manifestations,"  was  published  in  New  York,  1855. 
The  ' '  spirits, "  as  a  rule,  seemed  loath  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
apparatus,  but  some  of  them  tried  and  failed,  and  a  few  succeeded 
in  producing  results  which  Dr.  Hare  declared  must  be  ultramun- 
dane. He  explained  many  of  the  spiritualistic  ideas  in  scientific 
terms,  and  these  came  to  be  the  general  lingo  of  the  adepts. 

In  the  early  fifties,  various  incomplete  materializations  of  hands 
and  faces  and  the  like  became  part  of  the  manifestations,  and 
it  is  interesting  to  read  the  explanations  on  scientific  grounds  of 
these  phenomena.  They  illustrate  how  easy  it  is  to  clothe  the 
most  absurd  ideas  in  scientific  language  and  thus  to  give  a  very 
taking  air  of  science  to  them,  which  of  itself  satisfies  many  people 
of  their  thoroughly  scientific  character.  Professor  Mapes,  of  New 
York,  for  instance,  discoursed  learnedly  on  the  means  by  which 
the  semblance  of  temporary  physical  organizations  might  be  cre- 
ated by  the  spirits  to  enable  them  to  deal  with  material  objects. 
He  suggested  that  such  ''temporary  organisms  could  be  pro- 
duced in  accordance  with  the  kinetic  theory  of  gases  with  a  mini- 
mum employment  of  material  particles  provided  a  sufficiently  in- 
tense energy  of  motion  were  imparted  to  them. ' ' 

The  electric  telegraph  was  just  attracting  wide  attention  at 
this  time  and  creating  a  childlike  state  of  wonder  in  many  minds 
which  predisposed  them  to  the  acceptance  of  electrical  explana- 
tions for  any  marvelous  phenomena,  and  so  one  is  not  surprised 


SPIRITISM  AND  PSYCHISM 


401 


to  find  wonderful  suggestions  as  to  the  electrical  origin  of  the 
spiritistic  manifestations.  The  movements  of  tables  and  chairs 
were  said  to  be  due  to  *'a  redundancy  of  electricity  congregated 
upon  the  involuntary  nerves."  The  raps  were  caused  by  "an 
electro-magnetic  discharge  from  the  fingers  and  toes  of  the  me- 
dium." Tables  may  be  moved  "by  electro-magnetically  charg- 
ing the  table  from  a  living  battery  of  many  human  hands  and 
thus  attracting  or  repelling  it  without  contact."  The  process 
is  declared  "to  be  really  quite  as  simple  as  the  raising  of  a  balloon." 
"The  millions  of  pores  in  the  table  are  filled  with  electro-magnet- 
ism from  human  nervous  systems  which  is  inconceivably  lighter 
than  the  gas  that  inflates  the  balloon."  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  emanations  from  a  great  many  brains  at  this  time  were  of  an 
extreme  tenuity  and  almost  incredible  lightness  and  that  it  rep- 
resented hot  air  raised  to  the  nth  degree  which  ought  to  be  power- 
ful as  a  lifting  agent  for  almost  anything. 

Spiritualism  continued  to  attract  followers  from  all  over  the 
country,  many  of  them  being  thoroughly  respectable  and  suppos- 
edly well  educated  individuals.  A  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
many  lawyers  and  physicians,  a  great  many  school  teachers  of 
both  sexes,  not  a  few  college  professors  and  any  number  of  people 
who  prefer  heterodox  independence  to  conventional  orthodoxy 
became  very  much  interested  in  this  new  cult  which  promised  to 
put  them  in  direct  connection  with  a  higher  world.  This  served 
to  make  life  larger  and  less  tiresome  even  for  a  great  many  who 
were  not  directly  cured  of  supposedly  physical  ills  by  the  pre- 
scriptions obtained  from  the  great  physicians  of  the  other  world. 
After  a  time  the  attraction  of  the  novelty  of  the  new  cult  ceased 
to  have  its  usual  effect,  the  exposure  of  mediums  disillusioned 
people  and  spiritualism  gradually  crumbled.  Frank  Podmore, 
in  his  book  on  * '  Modern  Spiritualism, ' '  in  his  chapter  ^ '  The  Pedi- 
gree of  Spiritualism,"  has  traced  the  connection  between  this 
curious  set  of  incidents  and  the  Mesmerism  and  animal  magnetism 
which  had  attracted  so  much  attention  in  England  and  France 
at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  during  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  centuries.  Mankind  likes  to  be  humbugged,  prefers 
exciting  belief  in  some  humbuggery  or  other  to  the  rational  but 
monotonous  plodding  of  everyday  existence  and  so  one  can  al- 
ways be  prepared  to  find  new  popular  delusions. 


402 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


A  good  many  of  the  mediums  secured  wide  publicity  and  cre- 
dence because,  having  been  investigated  by  scientific  men,  the 
marvels  produced  by  them  were  declared  to  be  quite  beyond  the 
power  of  material  forces  and  to  present  definite  indications  that 
supra-natural  factors  must  be  at  their  command.  These  investi- 
gations by  scientific  men  have  always  been  sources  of  harm  rather 
than  good.  It  takes  a  rogue  to  catch  a  rogue,  and  a  conjurer  to 
catch  a  conjurer.  Scientists  taking  the  subject  seriously  and  not 
looking  for  insincerity  and  indeliberate  trickery,  were  often  rather 
readily  deceived.  They  always  had  the  feeling,  apparently,  that 
when  they  could  not  explain  something  by  scientific  principles  it 
must  be  inexplicable  in  any  but  in  some  marvelous  and  extra-mate- 
rial fashion.  Above  all,  a  great  many  of  them  went  into  the  in- 
vestigations with  the  idea  apparently  that  such  simple  looking, 
rather  ignorant  people,  as  mediums  often  were,  could  scarcely  be 
expected  to  fool  them.  As  a  consequence  they  were  rather  readily 
fooled. 

The  extent  to  which  the  spiritualistic  movement  became  dif- 
fused within  a  very  few  years  and  the  number  of  adherents 
which  it  gathered  may  be  judged  from  an  article  in  the  North 
American  Review,  April,  1855,  only  seven  years  after  its  initia- 
tion at  Hydesville.  The  writer  in  the  Review  is  not  only  not  a  fol- 
lower of  the  cult  himself,  but  he  begins  by  explaining  that  he  had 
deferred  writing  his  article  in  the  hope  that  the  spiritualistic 
toaovement  would  die  of  itself.  So  far  from  dying  out,  however, 
it  was  growing  in  numbers,  and  now  beginning  to  attract  men 
of  education  and  even  of  high  culture  and  a  number  of  persons 
of  high  repute  and  supposedly  sound  common  sense.  With  this 
preamble  it  is  clear  that  he  is  not  likely  to  exaggerate  the  num- 
ber of  spiritualistic  adherents,  so  that  his  acceptance  of  their 
claims  in  the  matter  of  their  membership  is  probably  not  wide 
of  the  mark.  He  said:  *'We  do  not  think  the  following  para- 
graph from  the  address  of  the  New  England  Spiritualists  Asso- 
ciation an  overstatement — 'It  is  computed  that  nearly  two  mil- 
lions of  people  in  our  nation,  with  hundreds  of  thousands  of  peo- 
ple in  other  lands,  are  already  believers  in  Spiritualism.  No  less 
than  twelve  or  fourteen  periodicals  are  devoted  to  the  publica- 
tion of  its  phenomena  and  the  dissemination  of  its  principles.  .  .  . 
Every  day,  and  more  than  daily,  lectures  are  given  in  the  pres- 
ence of  audiences  quite  respectable  as  to  both  number  and  char- 


SPIRITISM  AND  PSYCHISM 


403 


acter;  circles  are  held  by  day  and  by  night  in  nearly  every  city, 
town  and  village  throughout  our  country.'  " 

In  the  meantime  a  number  of  the  prominent  spiritualists  from 
this  country  and  especially  from  New  York  went  over  to  England 
and  introduced  all  the  so-called  spiritistic  manifestations  over 
there.  The  famous  Daniel  Dunglas  Home,  whose  name  had  origi- 
nally been  Hume,  was  born  in  Edinburgh,  but  came  to  this  coun- 
try as  a  child,  and  his  spirit  mediumship  developed  over  here. 
He  probably  had  more  to  do  than  any  one  else  with  the  constant 
occupation  by  learned,  thoroughly  intelligent  Englishmen  with 
spiritualism  between  1850  and  1880.  He  was  himself  a  man  of 
pleasing  manners  and  attractive  personality,  indeed,  from  the 
testimony  of  all  who  knew  him,  of  great  personal  charm.  Even 
so  late  as  twenty-five  years  ago,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research,  in  1894,  Sir  William  Crookes  said:  ''To  those 
who  knew  him.  Home  was  one  of  the  most  lovable  of  men,  and  his 
perfect  genuineness  and  uprightness  were  beyond  suspicion." 

Home  had  learned  spirit  rappings  from  the  mediums  of  the 
time,  for  he  had  known  the  Fox  girls  and  Gordon  and  Fowler  and 
others,  and  he  gave  private  seances  to  friends.  While  it  is  said 
that  he  never  took  any  money  directly  for  his  spiritistic  manifesta- 
tions, he  succeeded  without  any  definite  occupation  in  making  a 
good  living  out  of  mediumship.  His  personal  qualities  of  gaiety 
and  frankness  and  childlike  spontaneity  secured  for  him  many 
friends,  and  the  patronage  of  persons  of  wealth  and  social  distinc- 
tion. He  lived  in  their  houses  and  enjoyed  their  hospitality.  Oc- 
casionally, as  an  elocutionist,  he  gave  public  recitations  for  which 
his  friends  took  tickets,  and  these  supplied  him  with  money  as 
needed.  A  circle  of  American  friends  subscribed  money  to  send  him 
to  Europe  in  order  to  spread  the  light  of  the  new  cult  in  that  land. 
The  highest  degree  of  mediumship  was  the  missionary  spirit,  and 
imany  mediums  soon  began  to  look  across  the  Atlantic  to  the  un- 
tilled  field  over  there. 

Home  went  to  England  then,  was  not  there  very  long  before 
he  was  adopted  by  a  wealthy  widow  as  her  son,  though  this  was 
subsequently  revoked  by  the  court,  had  a  salaried  position  as 
secretary  to  a  spiritualistic  society  created  for  him,  married  suc- 
cessively two  ladies  with  private  fortunes,  and  came  in  many 
ways  to  occupy  a  very  enviable  position.  Many  of  the  nobility  of 
England  came  to  him  and  such  men  as  Sir  William  Crookes,  the 


404 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


great  English  scientist ;  Lord  Adair,  subsequently  the  Earl  of  Dun- 
raven,  famous  for  his  connection  with  the  competition  for  the 
America's  Cup,  all  declared  belief  in  his  manifestations  as  supra- 
natural.  Lord  Brougham,  Sir  David  Brewster,  Robert  Dale  Owen, 
Sir  Edward  Bulwer  Lytton,  Anthony  Trollope  and  many  other 
distinguished  Englishmen,  were  present  at  his  seances.  He  visited 
the  continent,  gave  seances  before  the  Emperor  and  Empress  at 
the  Tuileries  in  Paris,  as  well  as  before  the  Czar  of  Russia  and 
many  other  royal  and  noble  personages. 

Under  favoring  conditions  such  as  these  it  was  no  wonder  that 
spiritualism  spread  and  attracted  ever  more  and  more  attention. 
The  apparently  trivial  and  absurd  set  of  popular  delusions  which 
took  their  rise  in  the  insignificant  village  of  Hydesville  almost 
by  accident  at  first  in  the  pranks  of  some  children  and  had  been 
fostered  by  the  unsettled  conditions  of  religious  feeling  and  the 
mental  unrest  which  had  made  it  possible  for  Mormonism  to  make 
its  successful  start  in  the  same  part  of  New  York,  soon  grew  to  be 
a  disturbing  worldwide  movement  which  even  yet  occupies  the 
attention  of  the  curious.  After  a  time  spiritualism  was  to  give 
birth  to  theosophy  with  its  supposed  connection  with  the  Orient 
and  to  the  societies  of  Madame  Blavatsky,  in  London,  and  of 
other  ambitious  seeresses  in  England  and  America.  We  are  not 
through  with  the  movement  entirely  even  yet,  though  we  can 
now  readily  understand  that  it  was  not  at  all  what  it  was  set  up 
to  be  at  first,  a  question  of  communication  with  the  spirit  world, 
but  to  some  extent  merely  more  or  less  pathological  manifesta- 
tions of  curiously  constituted  minds  and  the  rest  fraud,  practised 
sometimes  consciously  but  undoubtedly  at  times  also  unconsciously 
by  interested  mediums. 

In  the  seventies  there  came  a  series  of  exposures  of  mediums 
everywhere.  Craft  in  his  "Epidemic  Delusions tells  the  story 
of  these  exposures  of  mediums  in  one  of  his  chapters.  Practically 
every  important  medium  was  exposed  at  least  once  and  many  of 
them  over  and  over  again.  The  curious  thing  was  that  even  after 
one  or  more  exposures  mediums  still  found  dupes  quite  ready  to 
accept  their  pretentious  claims. 

^ ' '  Epidemic  Delusions,  containing  an  expose  of  the  Superstitions  and 
Frauds  which  underlie  some  Ancients  and  Modern  Delusions,  including  Espe- 
cial Keference  to  Modern  Spiritualism,"  by  Kev.  Amos  N.  Craft,  A.M.  (Phil- 
ips &  Hunt,  New  York,  1881). 


SPIRITISM  AND  PSYCHISM 


405 


These  were  the  days  of  the  tied-up  mediums,  shackled  with  iron 
rings  and  fastened  in  various  ways  in  closets  and  chests  and  cabi- 
nets, so  that  to  the  committee  of  six  or  more  ''reliable  citizens" 
it  seemed  quite  impossible  that  the  medium  could  do  anything, 
and  yet  all  sorts  of  occurrences  happened,  and  then  the  medium 
was  found  tied  as  securely  as  before.  The  Davenport  brothers 
excelled  in  the  production  of  these  phenomena  of  spiritism,  but 
after  a  while  they  turned  from  the  practices  and  showed  how  their 
tricks  were  performed  and  then  offered  to  duplicate  in  the  light 
any  similar  ''phenomena"  that  might  be  produced  by  mediums 
in  the  dark. 

In  the  middle  seventies  it  became  the  custom  of  the  newspapers 
of  the  country  to  send  reporters  in  order  to  secure  exposures  of 
well  known  mediums.  The  Boston  Herald,  the  New  York  Sun, 
the  New  York  Times  and,  above  all,  the  Rochester  Evening  Ex- 
press and  the  Rochester  Democrat-Chronicle,  resenting  doubtless 
the  fact  that  the  delusion  had  originated  in  that  part  of  the  State, 
but  also  realizing  the  interest  of  the  people  of  that  neighborhood 
in  the  subject,  secured  a  number  of  exposures.  No  wonder  that 
spiritualism  as  a  cult  dwindled  in  numbers  and  gradually  lost  its 
hold  on  the  general  public,  though  a  great  many  ailing  people  still 
continued  to  consult  mediums  with  regard  to  their  ailments,  and 
it  is  surprising  how  many  of  them  declared  themselves  cured  of 
ills  for  which  physicians  had  been  unable  to  do  anything.  Indeed, 
it  was  particularly  the  chronic  ills,  pains  and  aches,  with  dis- 
abilities of  various  kinds  which  had  existed  for  long  periods  and 
for  which  a  number  of  physicians  had  been  consulted  without 
success,  that  were  cured  by  mediumistic  prescriptions  from  "the 
Great  Beyond."  This  is,  of  course,  the  old,  old  story  of  "cures" 
constantly  repeated  in  the  history  of  medicine,  and  these  chronic 
ills  represent  the  material  out  of  which  medical  pretenders  of  all 
kinds  have  always  succeeded  in  making  triumphs  for  themselves. 

Just  before  and  after  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 
New  York  State  was  the  scene  of  the  origin  and  rather  wide  spread 
of  a  whole  series  of  movements  more  or  less  related  to  spiritual- 
ism, some  of  which  allied  themselves  directly  with  that  cult,  while 
some  were  more  formally  psychic  in  character.  The  early  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century  had  seen  a  great  interest  in  what  was 
known  as  Mesmerism,  or  animal  magnetism  which,  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  nineteenth  century,  began  to  be  called  hypnotism,  when 


406 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


that  word  was  invented  by  Braid  in  England.  Most  of  these 
spiritistic  and  psychic  movements  were  originated  by  ignorant 
pretenders,  yet  the  surprise  is  how  many  of  them  succeeded  in 
finding  not  a  few  but  a  great  number  of  followers.  Their  votaries 
came,  moreover,  not  alone  from  the  ignorant  classes  and  the  poor, 
who  sometimes  feel  so  strong  a  need  for  a  mental  avenue  of  escape 
from  their  sordid  surroundings  that  they  are  ready  to  accept 
anything  that  promises  them  diversion,  but  not  infrequently  from 
the  presumably  intelligent  and  the  supposedly  educated  members 
of  the  community.  Not  a  few  professional  men  of  various  kinds 
fell  for  these  impostors,  who  were  often  so  thoroughly  earnest  in 
their  pretensions  that  one  cannot  but  think  that  they  were  sin- 
cere and  the  victims  of  their  own  delusions.  Some  time,  perhaps, 
we  shall  know  how  many  leaders  of  popular  movements  have  been 
quite  definitely  insane  and  have  led  others  into  the  acceptance  of 
their  delusions.  Such  psychic  contagion  is  not  nearly  so  uncommon 
in  the  world  as  we  might  be  inclined  to  think. 

Any  one  who  is  surprised  at  the  success  of  spiritualism  in 
America  should  study  this  set  of  movements  connected  with  a 
whole  crop  of  wonderfully  inspired  writers  and  evangelists  as 
they  thought  themselves  to  be,  which  are  to  be  found  in  our  his- 
tory at  this  time.  Many  of  them  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  rep- 
resenting great  new  movements  in  science  and  philosophy  and, 
above  all,  in  "psychology,"  for  that  was  the  word  they  conjured 
with.  At  that  time  science  was  called  natural  philosophy,  and 
"philosophizing"  was  supposed  to  represent  deep  thinking  of 
all  kinds.  Now  the  word  "science"  is  the  one  to  conjure  with, 
and  so  we  have  Christian  Science,  and  New  Thought  Science, 
and  Metaphysical  Science — all  because  large  numbers  of  people 
cannot  think  for  themselves,  they  must  get  their  thoughts  from 
some  one  else,  but  having  once  obtained  them,  they  cling  to  them 
with  a  tenacity  that  of  course  is  not  surprising,  for  there  would 
be  nothing  left  if  they  surrendered  them,  and  nature  abhors  a 
vacuum. 

All  of  these  movements,  like  spiritualism,  attained  their  great- 
est success  because  of  the  "cures"  that  were  worked  through  them. 
It  is  when  people  are  cured  of  something  or  other  that  they  know 
that  the  system  of  thought  connected  with  their  cure  must  be 
true  and  must  be  wonderful.  All  sorts  of  systems  of  thinking  and 
doing  have  cured  people.  "Cures"  are  the  worst  possible  elements 


SPIRITISM  AND  PSYCHISM 


407 


for  the  significance  of  a  new  system.  All  sorts  of  absurdities,  from 
Mesmer's  absolutely  electricityless  battery  to  the  gas  pipe  Oxy- 
donor  and  from  Greatrakes'  stroking  and  Perkins'  tractors  to 
Dowie's  prophetic  healing  touch,  have  cured  people  of  diseases 
which  they  said  the  doctors  had  been  unable  to  cure.  Doctors  can 
never  cure  a  disease  that  does  not  exist  except  in  the  patient's 
mind,  but  there  are  evidently  a  very  large  number  of  these  cases 
going  around  waiting  for  somebody  or  other  to  tell  them  that 
now  they  are  cured  and  then  they  get  better.  Any  one  who  wants 
to  understand  the  mechanism  of  modern  healers  should  study 
what  happened  in  New  York  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

One  of  the  great  leaders  of  thought  at  this  time,  at  least  in  the 
sense  of  the  amount  of  attention  that  he  attracted  about  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  was  the  famous  Andrew  Jackson  Davis, 
the  so-called  "Seer  of  Poughkeepsie."  Davis'  work  began  before 
that  of  the  Fox  sisters,  but  after  some  years  came  to  take  on  a 
character  resembling  the  spiritualistic  seances  that  became  com- 
mon in  the  early  fifties.  Davis  was  born  in  a  rural  township  not 
far  from  Poughkeepsie,  and  moved  when  he  was  twelve  years  of 
age  (in  1838)  to  that  city  with  his  parents.  His  father  was  a 
sort  of  jack-of -all-trades,  probably  good  at  none,  eking  out  a  liv- 
ing as  weaver  and  shoemaker  during  the  winter,  and  hiring  him- 
self out  in  the  summer  as  a  farm  laborer.  His  son  subsequently 
describes  him  as  shiftless,  and  for  many  years  given  to  drink. 

Andrew  Jackson  Davis  was  an  undersized  delicate  boy,  with 
little  education,  and  when  he  was  young  showing  no  conspicuous 
ability.  When  he  was  about  eighteen  Professor  Grimes,  a  wander- 
ing ''magnetizer,"  as  the  mesmerists  or  hypnotists  who  gave  pub- 
lic exhibitions  were  called  at  that  time,  gave  a  series  of  lectures 
on  "animal  magnetism"  in  Poughkeepsie.  As  the  result  of  the 
instruction  thus  afforded  a  tailor  succeeded  in  throwing  young 
Davis  into  a  trance.  The  pair  of  them  then  proceeded  to  make  a 
living  by  exhibitions  of  this  kind,  Davis  acting  as  a  professional 
clairvoyant  for  the  finding  of  lost  articles  and  the  explanation  of 
various  problems,  giving  public  tests  of  his  power  and  especially 
prescribing  for  diseases.  It  was,  above  all,  the  prescribing  for 
diseases  that  was  profitable,  and  Davis  used  to  explain  that  as 
a  boy  of  eighteen  he  had  fallen  into  a  spontaneous  trance  in  a 
churchyard  during  which  Galen  and  Swedenborg  appeared  to  him 


408 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


and  gave  him  instructions  concerning  his  healing  mission  to  man- 
kind. 

Under  the  guidance  of  Dr.  Lyon,  a  physician  then  practising 
at  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  and  Reverend  William  Fishbough,  the 
physician  acting  as  the  magnetizer  and  the  clergyman  as  his 
scribe,  Davis  dictated  a  series  of  lectures  on  philosophy  during  his 
clairvoyant  trances.  A  whole  set  of  volumes  were  eventually  thus 
issued.  They  represented  a  system  of  thought  which  came  to  be 
known  as  the  ''Harmonial  Philosophy."  Davis  once  solemnly  de- 
clared that  he  himself  had  read  no  books  but  one,  and  that  a  cheap 
romance,  but  there  is  evidence  that  he  dipped  into  a  number  of 
books,  among  others  Chambers'  Vestiges  of  Creation,"  which, 
containing  the  first  formal  statement  of  a  theory  of  evolution 
before  Darwin,  was  just  attracting  wide  attention  at  that  time. 
Besides,  there  is  evidence  that  he  read  some  books  on  sociology, 
for  this  was  the  time  of  the  Brook  Farm  and  other  socialistic 
experiments,  and  a  good  deal  of  Davis'  philosophy  is  reminiscent 
of  Fourierism  and  other  such  popular  expositions  of  socialism 
and  communism. 

Some  idea  of  the  popularity  of  Davis'  book,  in  spite  of  its 
esoteric  character  and  the  difficulty  of  understanding  it,  may  be 
appreciated  from  the  fact  that  thirty-four  editions  of  it  were 
bought  by  the  public  in  less  than  thirty  years.  As  an  author  he 
was  as  much  of  a  success  as  Mrs.  Eddy.  Some  passages  from  it  give 
the  best  possible  idea  of  the  style  and  the  matter  of  it  and  make 
it  very  clear  that  this  ''Harmonial  Philosophy,"  like  Eddyism  in 
the  modern  time,  used  words,  words,  words,"  yet  caught  many 
presumably  intelligent  people.  Positive  assertions  without  any 
effort  of  proof  or  any  necessity  for  logic  constituted  the  body  of 
the  book,  yet  people  swallowed  it  quite  as  if  they  understood  it 
all.  Indeed,  very  probably  most  of  the  converted  readers  of  the 
new  system  felt  when  other  people,  and  particularly  educated  folk, 
declared  that  they  could  not  understand  the  volumes,  that  a  spe- 
cial disposition  of  intellect  and  high  ability  was  needed  for  its 
comprehension.  Here  is  the  opening  paragraph  of  the  book  which 
a  professor  of  Hebrew  in  a  New  York  university  at  the  time  de- 
clared to  be  *'one  of  the  most  finished  specimens  of  philosophical 
argument  in  the  English  language": 

In  the  beginning  the  Univercoelum  was  one  boimdless,  undefinable,  and 
unimaginable  ocean  of  Liquid  Fire!    The  most  vigorous  and  ambitious 


SPIRITISM  AND  PSYCHISM 


409 


imagination  is  not  capable  of  forming  an  adequate  conception  of  the 
height  and  depth  and  length  and  breadth  thereof.  There  "was  one  vast 
expense  of  liquid  substance.  It  was  without  bounds — inconceivable — and 
with  qualities  and  essences  incomprehensible.  This  was  the  original  con- 
dition of  Matter.  It  was  without  forms,  for  it  was  but  one  Form.  It  had 
not  motions,  but  it  was  an  eternity  of  Motion.  It  was  without  parts,  for 
it  was  a  Whole.  Particles  did  not  exist,  but  the  Whole  was  as  one 
Particle.  There  were  not  suns,  but  it  was  one  Eternal  Sun.  It  had  no 
beginning  and  it  was  without  end.  It  had  not  length,  for  it  was  a  Vor- 
text  of  one  Eternity.  It  had  not  circles  for  it  was  one  Infinite  Circle. 
It  had  not  disconnected  power,  but  it  was  the  very  essence  of  all  Power. 
Its  inconceivable  magnitude  and  constitution  were  such  as  not  to  develop 
forces,  but  Omnipotent  Power. 

Matter  and  power  were  existing  as  a  Whole,  inseparable.  The  Matter 
contained  the  substance  to  produce  all  suns,  all  worlds,  and  systems  of 
worlds,  throughout  the  immensity  of  Space.  It  contained  the  qualities  to 
produce  all  things  that  are  existing  upon  each  of  those  worlds.  The 
Power  contained  Wisdom  and  Goodness,  Justice,  Mercy  and  Truth.  It 
contained  the  original  and  essential  Principle  that  is  displayed  throughout 
immensity  of  Space  controlling  worlds  and  systems  of  worlds,  and  produc- 
ing Motion,  Life,  Sensation,  and  Intelligence,  to  be  impartially  dis- 
seminated upon  their  surfaces  as  ultimates. 

A  good  idea  of  how  much  attention  Andrew  Jackson  Davis 
was  able  to  attract  to  himself  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
a  political  friend  secured  for  him  at  one  time  a  hearing  before  the 
United  States  Senate,  and  the  Senators,  it  is  said,  were  deeply  im- 
pressed not  only  by  his  address  but,  above  all,  by  the  reports 
that  were  brought  to  them  of  the  cures  that  were  effected  by 
him.  "Cures"  have  always  been  supposed  to  have  wonderful  evi- 
dential value  in  bringing  credit  to  healers  of  various  kinds  and 
acceptance  of  their  teachings.  As  a  rule,  these  cures  have  been 
affected  by  all  sorts  of  means  which  afterwards  proved  to  have  no 
physical  effect  and  only  served  to  impress  the  minds  of  certain 
people  who  were  laboring  under  ailments  that  were  due  to  dreads 
and  to  the  fact  that  a  great  many  people,  once  they  have  begun 
to  suffer  from  a  disease,  must  be  "cured"  in  some  impressive  way 
or  they  will  not  get  better.  They  refuse  to  take  up  their  activi- 
ties as  before  and  nurse  their  symptoms  until  some  one  promises 
them  a  cure  and  then  does  something  that  makes  them  feel  now 
they  ought  to  be  better.  There  was  question,  I  believe,  of  mak- 
ing Andrew  Jackson  Davis  a  sort  of  protege  of  the  national  gov- 
ernment in  order  to  enable  him  to  work  his  marvels  of  healing 


410 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


on  all  the  world  and  thus  lower  the  invalidism  of  the  United 
States.    Fortunately,  we  were  saved  that. 

Of  course,  there  were  a  number  of  such  curious  phenomenons 
about  this  time,  and  New  York  was  not  alone  in  the  fostering  of 
them.  One  J.  T.  Mahan,  a  youth  employed  upon  an  Ohio  river 
steamboat,  became  a  magnetic  clairvoyant  ''and  developed  a  wide 
sweep  and  wonderful  clearness  of  mental  vision,  and  brought  forth 
a  system  of  physical  and  intellectual  science"  which  was  pro- 
claimed the  product  of  inspiration  from  another  world.  Accord- 
ing to  the  story,  Mahan  was  employed  for  a  time  in  medical  diag- 
nosis by  one  Dr.  Curtis,  president  of  a  medical  college  in  Cincin- 
nati. A  young  man  named  Charles  Linton  entered  the  field  as  a 
rival  of  Davis.  He  developed  as  a  writing  medium  and  published 
in  1855  ''The  Healing  of  the  Nation."  These  inspired  works 
always  emphasized  the  putting  oneself  in  tune  with  the  infinite, 
in  touch  with  the  eternal  world  force.  New  Thought  and  Meta- 
physical Healing  had  their  anticipations  at  this  time.  A  certain 
Mr.  Speer  proclaimed  that  a  band  of  spirits  called  "The  Associa- 
tion of  Beneficence"  had  chosen  him  as  their  mouthpiece  for  cer- 
tain revelations  to  mankind.  He,  too,  wrote  a  lot  of  what  is  now 
seen  to  be  twaddle,  with  regard  to  the  electrizers  or  elementizers 
or  healthfulizers  of  the  spirit  world.  All  were  willing  to  be  medi- 
ums, between  man  and  the  spirit  world — for  a  consideration. 

It  would  be  too  bad  to  lose  sight  in  a  medical  history,  and  es- 
pecially the  history  of  medicine  in  New  York,  of  these  psychic 
healers.  They  are,  of  course,  the  legitimate  progenitors  of  a  large 
group  of  such  healers  in  our  own  time,  but  it  becomes  much  easier 
to  understand  the  rise  and  fate  of  present-day  healers  of  various 
kinds  in  the  light  of  what  happened  two  generations  ago.  If 
history  is  to  be  not  a  mere  recital  of  curiously  interesting  facts 
but  a  teaching  by  example,  then  this  chapter  deserves  to  be  given 
special  significance.  Almost  needless  to  say,  there  is  an  immense 
amount  of  material  with  regard  to  this  subject,  and  only  the  most 
compressed  treatment  of  it  is  possible  here,  though  as  the  move- 
ments initiated  by  the  Fox  sisters  from  Hydesville  and  the  Seer 
Davis  of  Poughkeepsie  had  countrywide  influence  at  this  time,  and 
even  deeply  affected  supposedly  thoughtful  folks  in  Europe  at  a 
period  when  very  few  phases  of  the  intellectual  life  that  originated 
m  America  were  being  felt  over  there,  their  history  deserves  to  be 
recalled. 


MEDICAL  INSTITUTIONS 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS 
NEW  YORK 


CHAPTER  I 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  OF  NEW 
YORK  (COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY) 

A    LTHOUGH  in  1789  there  were,  according  to  the  city  direc- 


tory, only  twenty-seven  physicians  practicing  in  the  city  of 


New  York,  Brissot  de  Warville  that  year  noted  that  the 
healthfulness  of  the  city  afforded  little  encouragement  to  medical 
practitioners,  the  prevalent  ailments  being  bilious  fever  and  severe 
colds,  yet  the  number  of  city  physicians  kept  continually  increas- 
ing, and  with  the  new  century  had  also  passed  the  century  mark. 
Earnest  students  among  them,  physicians  who  noted  the  calami- 
tous consequences  wrought  by  practitioners  who  lacked  knowledge 
of  medicine,  sought  to  increase  the  facilities  available  to  the  stu- 
dent, and  render  it  increasingly  difficult  for  the  incompetent 
student  to  gain  admittance  to  practice.  Furthermore,  the  rapid 
advancement  in  medical  science  demanded  close  and  constant  study 
by  conscientious  physicians.  Sanitation  had  come  to  receive  atten- 
tion, the  causes  of  epidemics  were  better  understood,  blood-letting 
and  blistering  had  become  less  frequently  resorted  to,  and  gener- 
ally there  had  come  a  desire  to  the  more  intelligent  practitioners  to 
have  better  facilities  at  hand  whereby  they  might  benefit,  in  critical 
definition  and  clinical  exemplification,  by  the  knowledge,  research, 
and  experiences  in  practice,  of  their  more  gifted  confreres. 

Consequently,  on  July  1,  1806,  was  held,  as  appears  from  the 
printed  proceedings,  ''a  meeting  of  the  physicians  and  surgeons 
of  the  city  and  county  of  New  York,"  and  in  the  following  year 
the  Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New  York,  with  a  member- 
ship of  139,  formulated  plans,  and  at  a  meeting  on  February  19, 
1807,  was  read  a  memorial  addressed  to  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  of  New  York  and  to  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  praying  for  incorporation  "as  a  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  .  .  .  for  the  public  good  and  the  promo- 
tion and  improvement  of  the  medical  profession  and  sciences," 

Note. — ^Various  of  the  following  narratives  are  contributed.  In  all  cases, 
the  matter  has  been  committed  to  a  prominent  official  of  the  institution,  for 
revision. 


413 


414 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


further  stating  that  they  ''would  be  more  successful  in  their  pur- 
pose if  the  regents  would  afford  them  approval  and  patronage." 
The  Regents  looked  favorably  upon  the  project,  and  on  March  12, 
1807,  a  charter  was  granted  to  the  ''College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons in  the  City  of  New  York,"  and  by  the  terms  of  the  instru- 
ment, the  members  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New 
York  became  members  of  the  college.  Thus  was  made  possible  the 
founding  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  New  York, 
which  in  this  day  is  the  medical  department  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, and  its  establishment  and  organization  "represented  the 
best  endeavors  of  the  profession  for  the  diffusion  of  medical  knowl- 
edge and  a  better  medical  education." 

On  May  5th,  1807,  the  incorporators  met  to  complete  the  col- 
lege organization,  sixty-three  of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
members  of  the  County  Medical  Society  being  present,  and  they 
duly  enacted  a  code  of  by-laws,  elected  officers,  and  performed 
what  other  fundamental  formalities  were  required  of  them  to  bring 
the  college  into  immediate  operation. 

By  election,  the  following  became  the  executive  officers  for  the 
first  year:  Nicholas  Romayne,  M.  D.,  President  and  Lecturer  on 
Anatomy;  Samuel  Latham  Mitchell,  M.  D.,  Vice-President,  and' 
Professor  of  Chemistry;  Edward  Miller,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  the 
Practice  of  Physic  and  Clinical  Medicine;  David  Hosack,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Botany,  and  Lecturer  on  Sur- 
gery and  Midwifery;  Archibald  Bruce,  M.  D.,  Registrar  and  Pro- 
fessor of  Mineralogy ;  Benjamin  De  Witt,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  the 
Institutes  of  Medicine,  and  Lecturer  on  Chemistry;  John  Augus- 
tine Smith,  Adjunct  Lecturer  on  Anatomy. 

All  were  residents  of  New  York,  and  members  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  New  York  County,  excepting  Dr.  Smith,  who  came  from 
Virginia  to  accept  the  appointment;  and  all  were  honest,  earnest, 
able  workers  for  the  advancement  of  medical  science,  giving  their 
services  to  the  college  without  heed  of  remuneration.  The  total 
expenses  of  conducting  the  college  for  the  first  year  were  only 
$2,650,  of  which  $800  was  for  rent,  $730  was  for  furnishing  the 
building,  and  the  balance  of  $1,120  was  absorbed  mainly  by  the 
purchase  of  anatomical  material,  chemical  apparatus,  and  the  like. 

Dr.  Romayne,  in  his  introductory  address,  after  stating  that  the 
patrons  "will  be  unremitting  in  their  endeavors  to  make  the  college 
equal  in  usefulness  to  the  most  distinguished  universities  of 
Europe, ' '  averred  that  the  professor  and  lecturers  ' '  will  give  sucK 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  415 


directions  as  may  be  most  interesting  to  students  to  aid  them  in 
the  prosecution  of  their  various  studies."  He  further  declared 
that  "the  trustees  have  not  thought  proper  to  make  any  laws  for 
the  government  of  its  students;  they  hope  none  will  ever  be  neces- 
sary ;  but  that  every  gentleman  attached  to  the  college  will  always 
be  directed  in  his  conduct  and  behavior  by  the  principles  of  honor 
and  good  manners." 

In  June,  of  the  first  year,  the  college  membership  constituted 
the  president,  professors  and  lecturers,  and  a  Senatus  Academicus, 
charged  with  the  duty  of  promoting  the  usefulness  of  the  college 
by  ascertainment  of  "what  branches  of  medical  science  usually 
taught  in  the  most  respectable  universities  were  as  yet  unprovided, 
of  nominating  capable  instructors  to  such  vacancies  as  might  exist, 
to  make  regulations  for  the  proper  conduct  of  the  instructional 
departments,  and  to  correspond  with  the  various  medical  societies 
throughout  the  state."  The  last-named  purpose  was  elucidated  in 
a  circular  shortly  afterwards  addressed  to  the  various  county  med- 
ical societies  throughout  the  State,  which  communication  declared 
that  "under  the  direction  and  patronage  of  the  Regents"  the  in- 
corporators "have  instituted  a  School  of  Physic,  which  it  will  be 
their  unremitting  endeavor  to  render  equal  in  extent,  comprehen- 
siveness, ajid  accuracy  of  education,  to  the  most  distinguished  uni- 
versities of  Europe,"  and  stated  its  principal  object  to  be  "to 
assist  in  the  progress  of  medical  science  in  every  part  of  the  State 
of  New  York, ' '  its  managers  considering  ' '  the  cultivation  of  corre- 
spondence and  intimate  connection  with  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
State,  and  the  Medical  Societies  of  the  several  counties,  as  one  of 
the  most  important  duties." 

The  first  course  of  lectures  began  on  Tuesday,  November  10, 
1807,  the  announcement  stating  that  "a  commodious  building  has 
been  provided  wherein  apartments  would  be  fitted  up  for  the  use 
of  teachers  and  students."  After  conferences  with  the  governors 
of  the  New  York  Hospital,  "relative  to  the  promotion  of  medical 
education,"  it  was  announced,  shortly  before  the  opening  of  the 
college,  that  its  students  would  be  afforded  the  opportunity  of  at- 
tending the  clinics  of  Dr.  Miller,  at  the  New  York  Hospital. 

Meanwhile,  the  important  question  of  obtaining  the  means  where- 
with the  embryo  college  might  obtain  a  home  and  equipment,  occa- 
sioned much  perplexity,  and  the  first  efforts  resulted  in  only  $230 
being  raised.  Dr.  Romayne,  however,  munificently  staked  his  per- 
sonal resources  to  the  extent  of  $5,000,  by  reason  of  which  security 


416 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


the  institution  was  enabled  to  negotiate  a  loan  from  the  Manhattan 
Bank.  Dr.  Miller  and  Dr.  Bruce  also  financially  supported  Dr. 
Romayne,  so  that  by  1810  the  college  had  incurred  an  aggregate 
liability  of  more  than  $8,000,  secured  mainly  by  the  personal 
estates  of  the  three  executives  named.  It  was  three  years  later 
before  the  institution  was  able  to  redeem  the  obligations  through 
an  act  of  the  State  Legislature  in  making  the  college  a  beneficiary 
in  the  ''literature  fund  lotteries"  to  the  extent  of  $20,000,  to  be 
paid  in  installments  of  $5,000  each. 

The  first  building  occupied  for  college  purposes  was  the  dwelling 
known  as  No.  18,  on  the  south  side  of  Robinson  street,  a  short  street 
extending  west  from  Broadway  and  forming  a  portion  of  what  is 
now  Park  Place. 

The  first  course  of  lectures  was  attended  by  fifty-three  students, 
an  encouraging  beginning;  and  the  conduct  of  the  college  met 
with  the  approbation  of  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the 
State,  who  readily  acquiesced  with  certain  changes  of  the  charter 
which  the  college  managers  considered  important.  Consequently 
an  amended  charter  was  passed  on  March  3,  1808,  which  swept 
away  the  necessity  to  annually  elect  executive  officers  of  the  col- 
lege, and  effected  other  improvements  in  the  constitution. 

Certain  changes  were  made  in  the  faculty  for  the  second  year, 
the  changes  for  the  most  part  resolving  themselves  into  the  assump- 
tion by  the  professors  of  added  duties  and  responsibilities.  Dr. 
Hosack,  however,  seceded  temporarily  from  the  faculty.  As  rear- 
ranged, the  faculty  of  1808  was:  Nicholas  Romayne,  M.  D.,  Presi- 
dent and  Professor  of  the  Institutes  of  Medicine ;  Samuel  L. 
Mitchell,  M.  D.,  Vice-President,  and  Professor  of  Natural  History 
and  Botany;  Edward  Miller,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  the  Practice  of 
Physic  and  Clinical  Medicine;  Archibald  Bruce,  M.  D.,  Professor 
of  Mineralogy  and  Materia  Medica;  Benjamin  De  Witt,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Chemistry;  John  Augustine  Smith,  M.  D.,  Professor 
of  Anatomy  and  Surgery;  William  James  Macneven,  M.  D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Obstetrics  and  the  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children. 

Seventy-six  students  attended  the  session  of  1808.  Five  lectures 
were  given  each  day  during  a  term  of  four  months,  some  of  the 
professors  lecturing  every  day,  and  others  four  times  each  week. 
The  faculty  labored  indefatigably,  all  having  comprehensive  duties ; 
especially  extensive  were  the  duties  of  Dr.  Romayne,  as  the  depart- 
ment of  Institutes  of  Medicine  committed  to  him  comprised  physiol- 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  417 


ogy  and  hygiene,  the  general  doctrine  of  causes  and  symptoms  of 
disease,  and  general  therapeutics.  From  twelve  to  one  o'clock 
the  students  attended  the  hospital  for  clinical  instruction,  and  also 
attended  Dr.  Macneven  at  the  Almshouse,  which  was  then  on  Cham- 
bers street. 

In  1809,  the  third  year,  eighty-two  students  were  enrolled,  and 
more  commodious  quarters  were  afforded  them  in  the  new  home 
on  Magazine  street,  to  which  the  college  was  removed  in  November 
of  that  year,  the  property  having  been  purchased  by  Dr.  Romayne, 
who  held  it  in  trust  until  the  college  was  able  to  arrange  for  its 
purchase.  The  building  was  a  dwelling  house  of  two  or  two  and 
a  half  stories,  and  at  the  outset  its  appurtenances  were  a  few 
benches,  and  a  table  for  the  professors,  and  dissection  work  was 
performed  in  the  attic. 

The  first  history  of  the  college  was  printed  in  1813,  a  pamphlet 
entitled  ' '  An  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Origin,  Progress  and  Present 
State  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  University 
of  the  State  of  New  York,"  and  was  from  the  press  of  C.  S.  Van 
Winkle,  at  No.  122  Water  street.  New  York,  but  it  is  accredited  to 
no  author,  though  it  is  presumed  that  it  was  written  by  Dr.  David 
Hosack.    The  volume  records  that: 

The  success  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  during  the 
three  years  of  its  establishment,  exceeded  the  most  sanguine  expectations, 
and  gave  the  fullest  evidence  of  the  numerous  advantages  which  the  City 
of  New  York  possesses  for  a  great  medical  school.  Certain  misunder- 
standings, however,  having  taken  place  between  the  president  and  the 
professors,  the  rapid  progress  of  the  College  in  its  importance  and  use- 
fulness received  a  temporary  check,  and  its  brilliant  prospects  were  for 
a  season  overcast.  From  a  want  of  unanimity  among  the  professors, 
lectures  on  only  some  of  the  branches  of  medicine  were  delivered,  and  the 
pupils  were  consequently  reduced  to  almost  one-third  the  former  number. 

In  consequence  thereof,  the  Regents  of  the  State  University 
immediately  sought  to  remedy  the  fault,  and  ''with  the  same  lauda- 
ble zeal  for  the  promotion  of  medical  science  with  which  they  had 
originally  organized  the  establishment,  adopted  measures  to  ascer- 
tain the  cause  of  the  mischief,  and  for  the  removal  of  every  impedi- 
ment to  its  prosperity."  They  appointed  a  committee  consisting 
of  Chief  Justice  Kent,  Judge  Spencer,  and  Judge  Smith,  to  inquire 
into  the  nature  of  the  controversy.  On  April  1,  1811,  the  com- 
mittee presented  its  report,  which  adverted  to  the  unfortunate  mis- 


418 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


understandings  between  several  of  the  professors,  ''which  have 
already  impeded  its  operations,"  and  asserted  that  ''unless  some- 
thing effectual  be  done  by  the  Regents,  it  will  become  degraded  in 
the  estimation  of  the  public,  and  its  usefulness  will  be  inevitably 
destroyed."  The  committee  made  certain  recommendations,  pro- 
posing the  introduction  into  the  faculty  of  several  professors  of 
the  medical  school  of  Columbia  College,  "and  other  eminent  and 
distinguished  men,"  with  a  view  to  the  eventual  amalgamation 
of  the  two  medical  schools,  which  they  pronounced  to  be  of  the 
first  importance,  as  assuring  the  assembling  in  one  institution 
of  "  a  splendid  collection  of  medical  and  surgical  talents. ' '  In 
conclusion,  the  committee  emphasized  the  important  advantage  to 
the  State  which  a  well  organized  medical  school  in  the  city  of  New 
York  must  afford.  As  a  consequence,  a  supplementary  charter  was 
formulated,  the  new  instrument  mainly  revising  the  previous  char- 
ter by  vesting  the  government  of  the  college  in  a  board  of  twenty- 
five  trustees,  including  the  president,  vice-president,  treasurer  and 
professors,  who  were  to  have  place  on  the  board  by  virtue  of 
their  respective  offices. 

On  the  same  day  upon  which  the  supplementary  charter  was 
granted  (April  1,  1811),  the  Regents  elected  the  following  faculty 
by  unanimous  vote:  Samuel  Bard,  M.  D.,  President;  Benjamin 
De  Witt,  M.  D.,  Vice-President;  John  Augustine  Smith,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Anatomy,  Surgery,  and  Physiology;  David  Hosack, 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine  and  Clin- 
ical Medicine ;  William  James  Macneven,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Chem- 
istry; Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Natural  History; 
John  D.  Jaques,  Treasurer;  John  W.  Francis,  Registrar.^ 

In  that  year  also  was  brought  about  the  union  of  the  medical 
teachers  in  Columbia  College  with  the  faculty  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  the  medical  school  of  the  former  having 
practically  lapsed,  seeing  that  from  1807  to  1810  it  had  graduated 
no  students.  Subsequently,  by  mutual  consent,  the  medical  lectures 
in  Columbia  College  were  discontinued,  and  the  Regents  of  the 
University  formally  approved  of  the  merger  of  faculties. 

On  May  15,  1811,  was  held  the  first  public  commencement,  when 

*It  will  be  noted  that  the  second  period  of  the  history  of  the  college,  which 
is  memorable  for  the  graduation  of  its  first  class,  began  under  the  presidency 
of  Dr.  Samuel  Bard,  who  succeeded  Dr.  Romayne;  also  that  Dr.  David  Hosack 
was  again  of  the  faculty. 


lib.'  \\  i.r 


DIPLOMA  OF  DR.  THEO.  ROMEYN  BECK 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  419 


the  first  class  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  was  grad- 
uated. The  candidates  had  previously  been  examined  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  faculty,  who,  on  being  satisfied  as  to  their  proficiency, 
duly  vouched  for  them  by  certificate  to  the  Regents  of  the  Univer- 
sity, the  sole  authority  for  the  legality  of  the  delivered  diploma. 
Each  candidate  also  submitted  to  the  faculty  his  graduating  thesis, 
which  he  was  privileged  to  write  in  English,  French,  or  Latin, 
and  which  it  was  presumably  obligatory  upon  him  to  defend  at  a 
public  examination  in  proof  of  authorship.  The  graduates  of  the 
first  class  were:  John  Wakefield  Francis,  Theodore  Romeyn  Beck, 
Geraldus  A.  Cooper,  Casper  "Wistar  Eddy,  Samuel  Armstrong 
Walsh,  Thomas  Edward  Steele,  William  E.  Burrell,  and  Henry 
Ravenal,  Jr. 

The  Regents  of  the  State  University,  in  their  annual  report  to 
the  Legislature,  May  27,  1812,  observed  that  ''the  organization  of 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  has  been  improved,  and 
it  now  presents  a  fair  prospect  of  speedily  rising  to  a  state  of 
usefulness  and  celebrity,  such  as  may  be  justly  expected  from  the 
importance  of  the  community  in  which  it  is  situated,  and  the 
government  under  whose  auspices  it  has  been  erected." 

Following  the  receipt  of  formal  approval  of  the  Regents  of  the 
State  University  to  the  plan  of  union  of  faculties  of  Columbia 
College  Medical  School  and  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons, the  faculty  of  the  latter  for  the  year  1814  was  announced: 
Samuel  Bard,  M.  D.,  President;  Benjamin  DeWitt,  M.  D.,  Vice- 
President  and  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy;  William  J.  Mac- 
neven,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry;  Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Natural  History  and  Botany ;  John  Augustine  Smith, 
M.  D.,  and  Wright  Post,  M.  D.,  joint  Professors  of  Anatomy,  Phys- 
iology and  Surgery ;  David  Hosack,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  the  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Physic ;  William  Hammersley,  M.  D.,  Professor  of 
Clinical  Medicine ;  John  C.  Osbom,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Obstetrics, 
and  the  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children;  James  S.  Stringham, 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  Legal  Medicine;  Valentine  Mott,  M.  D.,  Pro- 
fessor  of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery ;  John  W.  Francis, 
M.  D.,  Registrar,  and  Professor  of  Materia  Medica. 

In  this  reorganization  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
was  represented  by  five  members — Drs.  DeWitt,  Macneven, 
Mitchell,  Smith,  and  Francis,  the  last-named  a  graduate  of  the 
first  class.    Also  might  be  added  another.  Dr.  Hosack,  who  had 


420 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


been  a  member  of  the  1807  faculty,  but  had  subsequently  become 
identified  with  the  Columbia  College  Medical  School,  which  merged 
institution  had  six  representatives  among  the  faculty  of  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  1814 — Drs.  Bard,  Post,  Ham- 
mersley,  Osborn,  Stringham,  and  Mott. 

A  year  prior  to  this,  the  building  on  Pearl  (formerly  Magazine) 
street  belonging  to  the  college  had  been  sold,  and  the  lot  and  build- 
ing, a  warehouse,  at  No.  3  Barclay  street,  had  been  purchased,  the 
building  was  suitably  refitted,  and  the  college  entered  into  occu- 
pation at  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  collegiate  year,  on  the 
first  Monday  in  November,  1813.  In  1817  increased  accommoda- 
tion became  necessary,  and  the  building  was  doubled  in  size  by 
the  erection  of  a  western  extension. 

The  students  of  1814  numbered  only  seventy,  and  Dr.  John  C. 
Peters  deplored  the  fact  that,  although  it  was  the  only  medical 
school  in  New  York,  and  that  Philadelphia  had  four  medical  col- 
leges, the  Pennsylvanian  city  possessed  more  than  ten  times  as 
many  medical  matriculants. 

The  College  was  considerably  embarrassed  by  the  guardianship 
of  a  piece  of  public  property  of  little  utility  but  involving  con- 
siderable expense.  Dr.  Hosack  had  purchased  from  the  city  a 
twenty  acre  tract,  about  three  miles  distant,  bounded  now  by  Fifth 
and  Sixth  avenues  and  by  Forty-seventh  and  Forty-first  streets, 
and  now  the  vastly  valuable  leasehold  property  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege. This  tract  Dr.  Hosack,  who  was  an  enthusiastic  botanist, 
planted  as  a  great  botanical  garden,  but  the  property  later 
becoming  too  burdensome,  he  sought  to  dispose  of  it  to  the  State 
of  New  York  to  be  used  for  purposes  of  public  instruction  in  botany 
and  materia  medica.  Ultimately  the  Legislature  passed  an  act' 
providing  for  purchase,  and  appropriating  the  sum  of  $74,000  for 
the  purpose.  The  tract  came  into  the  custody  of  the  Regents  of  the 
University,  who  placed  it  in  the  guardianship  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  imposing  an  obligation  that  it  ''be  by 
them  kept  in  a  condition  fit  for  all  the  medical  purposes,  free  of 
expense,  under  the  immediate  inspection  of  the  Regents  resident 
in  the  City  of  New  York,  and  that  the  garden  be  at  all  times  open 
to  the  admission  of  such  medical  students  as  may  resort  thereto 
for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  botanical  science.''  The  College 
authorities  made  the  acquisition  a  feature  of  their  circular  in 
1811,  explaining  that  ''the  students  of  botany  will  have  an  oppor- 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  421 


tunity  of  visiting  it  whenever  they  think  proper,  and  of  examin- 
ing the  many  rare  and  valuable  plants  which  it  contains."  But 
subsequently  the  cost  of  maintenance  severely  taxed  the  resources 
of  the  College,  and  in  1816  it  was  removed  from  the  College 
guardianship  by  an  Act  of  Legislature,  providing  for  the  reversion 
of  the  property  to  Columbia  College. 

Beginning  with  the  occupation  of  the  renovated  college  building 
on  Barclay  street,  the  number  of  students  began  to  show  a  steady 
increase.  The  class  attending  the  eighth  session  (1814-15)  was 
121 ;  in  1815-16,  it  was  148,  and  in  1816-17  it  was  192.  In  182a 
the  Regents  reported  the  college  "in  a  state  of  rapid  improve- 
ment, ' '  with  a  roll  of  students  exceeding  two  hundred,  and  in  1822 
the  Regents  announced  that  it  had  ''an  increased  number  of  stu- 
dents from  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  United  States."  Much 
of  this  substantial  progress  was  due  to  the  professional  eminence 
and  executive  ability  of  the  college  president.  Dr.  Samuel  Bard, 
who  commanded  respect  throughout  the  country. 

But  there  was  a  certain  element  of  dissent,  and  the  opposition 
culminated  in  some  important  changes  being  effected  by  the  Re- 
gents of  the  State.  The  complaints  to  the  Regents  were  from  the 
Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New  York,  which  charged  the 
faculty  with  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  College  after  an  auto- 
cratic manner,  in  entire  disregard  of  the  body  whence  it  had 
sprung,  and  of  the  interests  of  the  profession  at  large;  it  had 
''become  a  source  of  exclusive  privileges  and  immunities,  the  fac- 
ulty being  the  chief  beneficiaries,  the  professors  benefiting  from 
the  exaction  of  increased  fees  for  tuition.  The  prosecutors  of  these 
pleas  rendered  the  charge  more  serious  by  alleging  culpable  laxity 
in  examinations,  whereby  students  had  been  granted  diplomas 
after  having  attended  lectures  for  two  years,  and  in  some  instances 
where  the  subject  had  never  attended  lectures,  this  departure  from 
the  original  intention  of  the  college  resulting  in  the  admittance  to 
practice  of  men  who  were  professionally  ''in  a  state  of  wretched 
unpreparedness. "  As  a  consequence,  the  County  Medical  Society 
and  the  State  Medical  Society  jointly  petitioned  the  Regents  to 
effect  a  reorganization  of  the  college,  with  the  provision  that  the 
professors  no  longer  be  permitted  to  act  as  trustees,  recommending 
a  new  board  of  trustees  to  be  composed  of  resident  physicians,  with 
the  president  of  the  College,  the  president  of  the  County  Medical 
Society,  and  the  president  of  the  State  Medical  Society,  and  that 


422 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


vacancies  thereafter  occurring  should  be  filled  by  the  County  Med- 
ical Society.  This  was  presented  to  the  Regents,  who  saw  fit  to 
rule  that  thereafter  no  professors  could  be  elected  to  the  board  of 
trustees,  "so  that  trustees  might  no  longer  be  liable,  merely  from 
their  situation  as  professors,  to  the  suspicion  of  persouEil  interest 
in  the  adoption  of  regulations."  The  professors  who  were  then 
members  of  the  board  of  trustees  were,  however,  retained  in  their 
office,  it  being  provided  that  upon  the  death,  resignation  or  re- 
moval from  office  of  any  professor,  in  no  case  should  his  successor 
in  teaching  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  trustee.  It  was  also  pro- 
vided that  the  president  and  vice-president  of  the  College  should 
be  trustees,  ex  officiis,  and  the  Regents  further  appointed  to  va- 
cancies on  the  board  a  number  of  resident  physicians,  most  of 
whom  were  members  of  the  County  Medical  Society.  The  Regents 
also  ruled  that  a  candidate  for  the  medical  degree  should  have 
studied  for  three  years  under  a  respectable  practitioner,  and  have 
attended  a  full  course  of  lectures  for  not  less  than  two  winter  ses- 
sions. 

The  difficulties  were  not  even  then  finally  disposed  of,  and  in 
1825  the  Regents,  again  appealed  to,  appointed  a  committee  of 
investigation.  The  committee  consisted  of  Lieutenant-Governor 
Tallmadge,  Mr.  Van  Renssalaer  and  Mr.  Marcy,  and  in  their  report, 
dated  January  12,  1826,  the  committee  found  the  professors  inno- 
cent of  any  serious  fault;  there  was  no  evidence  of  partiality 
or  oppression  in  the  examinations  of  candidates  for  graduation, 
and  no  suspicion  of  misapplication  of  college  funds.  They  ascribed 
the  differences  to  the  existence  of  professional  rivalries,  and  recom- 
mended that  the  board  of  trustees  should  be  so  constituted  as  to 
no  longer  wholly  consist  of  medical  practitioners.  The  Regents 
concurred,  and  provisions  were  made  to  constitute  a  board  of  trus- 
tees of  twenty-five  members,  of  which  board  thirteen  would  be  of 
the  laity,  and  twelve  of  the  profession.  These  salutary  provisions 
were  resented  by  the  faculty,  who  sought  to  have  the  rulings  of  the 
Regents  overruled  by  the  Legislature,  and  failing  in  the  attempt, 
they  resigned  in  a  body,  April  11,  1826,  their  communication  to 
the  Regents  stating  that  ''We  ...  are  fully  persuaded  that  we 
best  consult  our  self-respect  by  withdrawing  altogether  from  the 
institution."  The  signatories  to  the  document  were  David  Hosack, 
Wm.  J.  Macneven,  Sml.  L.  Mitchell,  Valentine  Mott,  John  W. 
Francis,  these  five  educators  having  constituted  the  whole  of  the 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  423 


faculty  which  by  death,  resignation,  or  removal  had  become  seri- 
ously depleted. 

Immediately  thereafter,  the  resigning  professors,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Dr.  Mitchell,  made  overtures  to  Rutgers  College,  at  New 
Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  with  the  result  that  they  organized  what 
was  known  as  Rutgers  Medical  College,  which  they  established  in 
a  building  on  Duane  street,  New  York  City.  In  the  faculty  of 
this  rival  institution  were  Dr.  Valentine  Mott,  who  was  president, 
and  Drs.  David  Hosack,  Macneven  and  Francis,  and  they  exerted 
strenuous  efforts  to  place  the  school  upon  a  sound  foundation. 
The  enterprise  promised  well,  as  the  first  session  was  attended  by 
one  hundred  and  fifty-three  students,  and  in  the  circular  of  the 
institution  the  class  of  practical  anatomy  was  particularly  empha- 
sized, the  students  being  supplied  with  the  material  necessary  ' '  at 
an  expense  scarcely  worthy  of  remark,"  being  two  dollars  from 
each  person  for  every  subject  consumed  by  his  class.  The  fees 
were :  Matriculation,  $3 ;  tickets,  $15  each ;  practical  anatomy, 
$10;  and  graduation,  $20.  However,  the  school  was  subsequently 
forced  to  cease  operations,  owing  to  the  manifest  illegality  of  its 
charter  granted  by  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  while  its  faculty  sat 
in  New  York.  Otherwise,  the  operation  of  the  Rutgers  Medical 
School  might  have  seriously  affected  the  future  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

' '  The  Description  of  the  City  of  New  York, ' '  by  James  Hardie, 
A.  M.,  published  in  1827,  enters  into  much  detail  regarding  the 
early  history  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  It  traced 
the  "evils  under  which  the  college  groaned"  to  the  ''anomaly  of 
government,  in  vesting  the  trusteeship  in  the  custody  of  the  fac- 
ulty," the  resignation  of  the  members  of  which  in  1825  he  refers 
to  as  follows:  "The  professors,  consequently,  rather  than  be  in- 
volved in  the  disgrace  of  connexion  with  a  school  which  imposed 
on  students  restrictions  wholly  unknown,  and  that  by  a  body  who 
exercised  powers  exclusively  belonging  to  another  body,  determined 
to  resign  their  several  offices  and  professorships,  and  the  public 
papers  of  April  last  set  forth  the  circumstance." 

However,  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  by  the  resig- 
nation of  its  faculty,  was  not  left  entirely  in  articulo  mortis,  and 
in  July,  1826,  the  Regents  of  the  University  met  in  special  session, 
and  appointed  the  following  faculty:  John  Watts,  M.  D.,  Presi- 
dent; John  Augustine  Smith,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Anatomy  and 


424 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Physiology ;  James  F.  Dana,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry ;  John 
B.  Beck,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Botany  and  Materia  Medica;  Alex- 
ander H.  Stevens,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  the  Principles  and  Practice 
of  Surgery ;  Edward  Delafield,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and 
the  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children;  Joseph  M.  Smith,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic  and  Clinical  Medi- 
cine. 

The  president.  Dr.  John  Watts,  was  an  able  practitioner  and 
executive.  He  was  only  forty  years  of  age,  and  it  was  thought 
that  under  his  aggressive  direction,  the  college  would  show  sub- 
stantial progress.  He  died  five  years  later,  but  during  his  brief 
administration  succeeded  in  placing  the  college  upon  a  firm  founda- 
tion. He  was,  of  course,  materially  aided  by  his  faculty,  which  was 
noteworthy  in  that  three  of  its  number  later  became  presidents  of 
the  college.  The  period  (1826-31)  during  which  the  college  was 
under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Watts  was  nevertheless  one  of  anxious 
effort.  In  1826,  owing  to  the  opening  of  Rutgers  Medical  College, 
the  students  under  President  Watts  numbered  only  ninety,  as 
against  more  than  two  hundred  in  the  year  preceding,  and  it  was 
several  years  before  the  former  standard  was  again  attained.  The 
college  also  became  involved  in  financial  difficulties,  in  1826  being 
practically  without  means.  Its  ground  and  building  on  Barclay 
street  were  its  principal  possessions,  but  these  were  moij^gaged  for 
practically  their  realizable  worth;  a  committee  reported  the  prop- 
erty to  be  in  a  deplorable  state  of  dilapidation,  its  furnishings  and 
fittings  so  scattered  and  damaged  that  ''the  college  generally  pre- 
sented the  appearance  of  a  city  sacked  and  deserted  by  a  ruthless 
enemy. ' ' 

However,  through  the  efforts  and  personal  sacrifices  of  the  trus- 
tees and  the  faculty,  the  debts  were  placed  in  course  of  extinguish- 
ment and  were  finally  settled  in  1830,  a  year  prior  to  the  death  of 
Dr.  Watts. 

Dr.  John  Augustine  Smith  succeeded  Dr.  Watts  in  the  presi- 
dency, and  remained  chief  executive  until  1843,  during  which  period 
the  college  advanced  considerably.  By  1834  attendance  had  so 
increased  and  the  movement  of  the  population  to  the  upper  part  of 
the  city  had  become  so  pronounced,  that  removal  to  a  more  favor- 
able location  became  imperative.  In  the  following  year  the  board 
of  trustees  appointed  a  committee  to  report  as  to  a  favorable  college 
site.   In  May  1835,  a  purchase  was  made  from  the  New  York 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  425 


High  School  Society  of  certain  property  on  the  east  side  of  Crosby 
street,  No.  67.  The  lots  had  a  frontage  of  seventy -two  feet,  and 
a  depth  of  one  hundred  feet,  upon  them  a  brick  three-story  build- 
ing. This  after  renovation  was  pronounced  to  be  ''imposing  in 
appearance,  ample  in  dimensions,  and  commodious  in  arrange- 
ments." It  was  further  confidently  declared  to  be  ''unsurpassed 
by  any  similar  establishment  in  the  Union."  The  college  entered 
into  possession  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirty-first  session,  Novem- 
ber 6,  1837.  Ten  years  later  increased  accommodation  was  pro- 
vided by  raising  the  rear  to  the  height  of  the  front  portion  of  the 
building. 

In  1831,  the  year  in  which  Dr.  Smith  advanced  to  the  presidency, 
Dr.  Valentine  Mott  joined  the  faculty;  in  1834,  the  departments 
of  anatomy  and  physiology  were  divided.  Dr.  Smith  retaining  the 
latter,  and  Dr.  John  R.  Rhinelander  being  appointed  to  the  former. 
Dr.  Rhinelander  resigned  in  1839,  and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Rob- 
ert Watts.  The  chair  of  surgery,  which  for  eleven  years  had  been 
occupied  by  Dr.  Stevens,  became  vacant  by  his  resignation  in  1837, 
and  for  the  two  ensuing  sessions  was  filled  by  Dr.  Alban  G.  Smith, 
late  of  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio.  In  1840  Dr.  Willard  Parker 
became  Professor  of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery  and 
his  connection  with  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  was 
only  severed  by  his  death,  forty-five  years  later.  In  1841  Dr.  Dela- 
field  was  succeeded  in  the  chair  of  obstetrics  by  Dr.  Chandler  R. 
Gilman,  a  lecturer  in  the  department. 

The  presidency  of  Dr.  Smith  continued  until  1843,  and  under 
him  the  curriculum  was  materially  broadened,  and  he  introduced 
many  features  which  have  been  continued  to  the  present  time. 
Chief  among  these  changes  was  one  having  reference  to  the  election 
of  the  teaching  stafP.  In  earlier  years,  the  trustees  had  at  various 
times  assigned  to  such  departments  as  were  without  a  professor, 
a  lecturer  to  serve  until  the  chair  was  filled  by  the  Regents.  In 
1837  this  plan  was  amplified  into  a  provision  that  a  faculty  vacancy 
should  be  temporarily  filled  by  the  appointment  of  a  lecturer  who 
should  serve  for  one  session  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  colleagues 
before  he  could  be  confirmed  to  the  chair,  which  system  made  cer- 
tain the  election  of  a  competent  staff. 

Reviving  a  practice  in  the  early  years.  Dr.  Smith  in  1841  in- 
augurated a  spring  course  of  clinical  lectures.  The  instructors  in 
the  spring  course  of  1841  were  Dr.  Willard  Parker  on  operative 


426 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


surgery ;  Dr.  Robert  Watts  in  surgical  anatomy ;  Dr.  Chandler  R. 
Gilman  in  pathology  of  the  uterus ;  Dr.  James  Quackenbos  on  the 
nervous  system ;  Dr.  George  R.  Wilkes  on  diseases  of  the  eye ;  Dr. 
Alonzo  Clark  on  pathology  of  the  thorax ;  Dr.  William  Detmold  on 
club  feet  and  kindred  deformities;  and  Dr.  William  C.  Roberts 
on  patholog>^  of  the  kidneys.  A  preliminary  course  of  lectures  was 
given  during  the  month  of  October,  and  until  the  beginning  of  the 
regular  term  in  November.  The  instructors  were :  Dr.  John  Torrey 
on  medical  botany;  Dr.  Robert  Watts  on  comparative  osteology; 
Dr.  Willard  Parker  on  pathology  of  the  ear,  and  Dr.  Chandler  R. 
Gilman  on  monstrosities.  The  results  attending  these  supple- 
mentary courses  were  so  satisfactory  that  the  faculty  was  encour- 
aged to  make  them  a  permanent  feature. 

In  1840  opportunity  was  extended  to  private  pupils  to  witness 
the  methods  of  treatment  prevailing  in  the  Northern  Dispensary, 
and  on  coming  to  the  chair  of  surgery,  in  1841,  Dr.  Willard  Parker 
established  the  college  clinic,  and  outdoor  patients  were  brought 
from  the  Dispensary  and  various  hospitals  to  the  college  for  exami- 
nation and  treatment  under  the  observation  of  the  students. 

Dr.  John  Augustine  Smith  having  resigned  the  presidency  in 
1843,  he  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Alexander  Hodgdon  Stevens,  who 
remained  chief  executive  until  November,  1855.  The  collegiate 
year  of  1843,  the  first  under  President  Stevens,  opened  with  the 
following  faculty:  Joseph  Mather  Smith,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  the 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine  and  Clinical  ^ledicine;  John 
Brodhead  Beck,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Medical 
Jurispinidence ;  John  Torrey,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and 
Botany;  Robert  Watts,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Phys- 
iology; Willard  Parker,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  the  Principles  and 
Practice  of  Surgery ;  Chandler  Robbins  Gilman,  M.  D.,  Professor  of 
Obstetrics  and  the  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children.  During  the 
latter  portion  of  President  Stevens's  administration,  the  chair  of 
Materia  Medica  and  Medical  Jurisprudence  was  occupied  by  Dr. 
Elisha  Bartlett,  who  succeeded  Dr.  Beck.  Dr.  Torrey  resigned 
the  chair  of  Chemistry  in  1854,  and  his  duties  were  for  two  years 
undertaken  by  Dr.  John  le  Conte,  and  subsequently  by  Dr.  Samuel 
St.  John. 

President  Stevens  considerably  amplified  clinical  instruction,  and 
made  more  definite  the  duties  of  the  instructors  in  the  various 
departments  of  pathology.    These  salutary  innovations  were  the 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  427 


outcome  primarily  of  the  indefatigable  efforts  of  Drs.  Willard 
Parker,  Robert  Watts,  and  C.  R.  Oilman,  and,  heartily  supported 
by  the  faculty  trustees,  the  concert  of  action  resulted  in  increased 
efficiency  and  a  material  advance  in  the  standard  of  professional 
education. 

In  the  college  announcement  of  1844,  the  faculty  declared  the 
instructional  period  of  four  months,  as  required  by  law,  too  brief 
for  even  the  regular  course ;  consequently  the  spring  course  of  lec- 
tures was  made  more  comprehensive  by  the  assignment  of  all  pro- 
fessors to  lecture  duties,  thus  virtually  affording  a  collegiate  term 
of  five  months'  duration.  In  1847  the  regular  course  was  extended 
to  a  period  of  four  and  a  half  months,  beginning  mid-October, 
while  the  preliminary  lectures  began  in  September.  These  supple- 
mentary spring  and  autumn  lectures  were  much  appreciated  by 
many  alumni  in  busy  practice,  and  were  considered  by  many  to 
constitute  a  useful  post-graduate  course. 

During  President  Stevens's  administration  also,  the  clinics, 
which  previously  had  been  held  only  weekly  and  during  the  scho- 
lastic term,  were  made  almost  continuous  through  the  academic 
year,  and  the  college  announcement  of  1843-44  particularly  em- 
phasizes the  advantages  of  the  "Medical  and  Surgical  Clinique.'^ 
In  1850  it  was  proclaimed  that  the  clinic  "had  assumed  a  degree 
of  importance  that  could  hardly  have  been  anticipated  at  its 
origin,"  and  shortly  afterwards  there  were  held  in  the  college 
three  clinics  each  week. 

Generally,  instruction  had  become  more  exact  and  comprehensive, 
and  physiology  and  pathology,  which  had  been  inadequately 
treated  during  the  first  forty  years,  received  more  definite  atten- 
tion and  specialization.  In  1847,  in  response  to  a  memorial  from 
the  trustees  of  the  college,  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the 
State  created  the  chair  of  Physiology  and  Pathology,  and  elected 
Dr.  Alonzo  Clark  as  lecturer  upon  these  subjects.  During  the  term 
of  1853-54,  Dr.  Clark,  in  consequence  of  the  illness  of  Dr.  Bartlett, 
delivered  a  portion  of  the  lectures  on  Theory  ajid  Practice,  and 
in  1855  became  Professor  of  Pathology  and  Practical  Medicine, 
serving  in  that  capacity  until  CEilled  to  the  presidency  in  1875. 

In  1854  clinical  instruction  was  materially  aided  by  "An  Act  to 
Promote  Medical  Science"  passed  by  the  Legislature  on  April  1st 
of  that  year.  Prior  to  that  time  it  was  unlawful  to  obtain  for 
purposes  of  dissection  any  material  save  the  few  bodies  of  deceased 


428 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


convicts  in  the  penitentiaries  at  Auburn  and  Sing  Sing  which  were 
unclaimed  by  friends,  and  teachers  of  anatomy  were  compelled 
to  resort  to  illegal  methods  to  obtain  subjects  for  clinical  demon- 
stration. Various  attempts  had  previously  been  made  to  remove 
this  hindrance,  but  until  1854  instructors  of  anatomy  labored  un- 
der difficulties,  and  oftentimes  were  placed  in  situations  of  great 
personal  danger  in  seeking  the  material  with  which  to  continue 
their  work.  The  advantages  derived  from  the  enactment  of  the 
so  named  ''Anatomical  Bill"'  were  soon  apparent.  The  college 
catalogue  of  1855  announced  that  the  preceding  session  had  been 
distinguished  by  a  new  element  of  success;  that,  thanks  to  the 
enlightened  liberality  of  the  Legislature,  the  supply  of  subjects  has 
not  only  been  ample,  but  it  has  been  obtained  without  the  difficul- 
ties and  dangers  of  former  yeai*s." 

Important  additional  facilities  for  clinical  observation  were 
about  that  time  available,  the  Bellevue  Hospital,  which  in  its  early 
days  had  been  known  as  the  City  Almshouse  Hospital,  having 
agreed  to  permit  students  of  the  college  to  observe  the  treatment 
of  cases  therein,  an  important  facility.-  In  these  hospital  clinical 
lectures,  the  operations  performed  before  the  students  were  of  the 
gravest  nature,  whereas  in  college  clinics  the  instructors  generally 
treated  only  the  minor  stages  of  injury  or  disease. 

Reviewing  President  Stevens's  administration  generally,  it  may 
be  stated  to  have  exceeded  its  predecessors  in  events  and  procedure, 
the  college  under  his  guidance  attaining  a  position  ' '  of  command- 
ing influence. ' '  He  resigned  in  November,  1855,  and  shortly  after- 
wards Dr.  Thomas  Cock  became  president,  and  held  office  until 
1858,  when  he  resigned  because  of  ill-health. 

In  1856  the  college  was  removed  from  Crosby  street  to  the  corner 
of  Twenty-third  street  and  Fourth  avenue,  where  it  was  destined 
to  remain  for  thirty-one  years.  The  removal,  as  in  the  previous 
instance,  was  decided  upon  mainly  because  of  the  uptown  trend  of 
the  population,  and  the  encroachment  of  manufacturing  and  com- 
mercial establishments  ''which  were  disturbing  to  the  quietude 
necessary  in  an  educational  establishment. ' '  And  the  removal  was 
not  consummated  without  difficulty,  financial  conditions  having 
been  such  as  to  necessitate  earnest  discussion  by  the  trustees.  In 

*  The  report  of  the  Medical  Board  of  Bellevue  Hospital  for  1849  shows  that 
the  total  number  of  patients  under  treatment  at  the  hospital  was  3,711 — ''Ac- 
count of  Bellevue  Hospital,"  Carlisle. 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  429 


the  emergency,  Dr.  Willard  Parker  and  his  associates  proffered 
their  private  resources,  which  enabled  the  project  to  be  carried 
through.  Dr.  Willard  Parker  advanced  over  $60,000,  and  his  pro- 
fessorial associates  a  further  $21,000  in  the  form  of  a  non-interest 
bearing  loan.  The  new  building,  which  with  its  furnishings  cost 
$55,930,  plus  $35,000  for  the  realty,  was  opened  January  22,  1856, 
and  in  the  improved  surroundings,  and  with  a  more  ample  equip- 
ment, the  classes  increased  apace.  The  clinics  developed  even 
greater  importance ;  to  the  three  each  week  was  added  a  fourth,  a 
surgical  clinic,  conducted  by  Dr.  William  Detmold,  a  German  army 
surgeon. 

Dr.  Delafield,  who  became  president  in  1858,  had  many  difficult 
questions  to  determine,  and  perhaps  the  most  important  happening 
in  the  college  history  under  his  administration  was  the  escape  from 
the  vague  assumptions  of  authority  by  the  Regents  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  consequent  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  Columbia  University  Medical  Department.  The  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  and  other  medical  institutions  which 
had  been  developed  under  the  over-rule  of  the  Regents  had  so  far 
advanced  as  to  have  outgrown  the  capacity  of  the  Regents  for 
reconciling  conflicting  interests,  and  in  many  other  respects  it 
had  been  proved  that  the  colleges  would  progress  more  rapidly 
if  not  subject  to  the  governmental  rulings  of  the  Regents.  The 
case  in  favor  of  self-government  for  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  was  made  more  justifiable  by  the  fact  that  other  educa- 
tional institutions  of  the  State  enjoyed  the  condition  sought  by  it, 
the  Regents'  power  to  oversee  and  direct  having,  in  particular 
cases,  been  curtailed  by  successive  legislative  enactments,  which 
created  other  medical  colleges  in  entire  independency  of  the  Re- 
gents. Accordingly,  the  faculty  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  in  1859  appointed  a  committee  to  formulate  a  remedial 
plan.  The  findings  were  embodied  in  a  memorial  addressed  to  the 
Regents  in  1860,  in  which  the  entire  subject  was  cogently  presented, 
and  relief  was  asked  by  such  amendment  of  the  college  charter  as 
would  grant  its  board  of  trustees  the  power  of  final  decision  in  all 
appointments  of  officers  and  faculty,  and  the  granting  of  diplomas 
to  graduates.  Ultimately,  by  legislative  enactment,  on  March  24, 
1860,  the  charter  was  so  amended  as  to  vest  in  the  trustees  the 
rights  asked  for  in  the  petition  to  the  Regents. 

These  salutary  reforms  were  effected  in  the  same  year  in  which 


430 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


was  accomplished  the  union  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons with  Columbia  College,  which  amalgamation  practically  re- 
newed the  affiliations  of  their  earlier  years,  as  hereinbefore  re- 
counted. The  plan  of  union,  or  reunion,  was  considered  by  the 
administrations  of  the  two  colleges  in  1859,  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons  considering  that  the  two  bodies  should  remain 
practically  independent  of  each  other,  but  might  unite  in  con- 
ferring the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  A  conference  committee 
of  both  bodies  reported  favorably,  and  stated  that  ''a  School  of 
Jurisprudence  has  already  been  established,  and  is  in  active  and 
successful  operation,  and  that,  by  the  establishment  of  a  School  of 
Medicine,  facilities  will  be  afforded  by  the  eminent  abilities  of 
several  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Medical  College  for  forwarding  the 
establishment  of  a  practical  School  of  Science." 

The  Legislature  having  on  June  4,  1860,  so  amended  the  charter 
of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  as  to  make  legal  its 
union  with  Columbia  College,  the  union  was  given  full  effect  that 
day,  the  trustees  of  Columbia  College  formally  adopting  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  as  the  Medical  Department  of  Columbia 
College.  Two  days  later  the  trustees  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  by  resolution  provided  that  diplomas  of  medical 
graduates  should  be  signed  by  the  presidents  of  the  respective  col- 
leges, and  by  the  faculty  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons, and  should  be  publicly  conferred  by  the  two  presidents  in 
joint  session.   On  June  18,  the  alliance  was  officially  promulgated. 

President  Delafield's  administration  covered  the  Civil  "War 
period,  and  in  the  college  catalogue  of  1862-63  reference  was  made 
to  the  importance  of  the  study  of  military  surgery,  and  to  the 
appointment  of  Dr.  William  Detmold  as  Professor  of  Military 
Surgery  and  Hygiene.  The  catalogue  of  1862-63  contained  the 
names  of  only  245  students,  but  when  peace  had  been  restored  the 
attendance  again  assumed  normal  proportions,  465  students  attend- 
ing the  fall  collegiate  session  of  1866.  Many  had  seen  service  as 
'  *  contract  surgeons, ' '  and  came  to  the  college  to  complete  a  regular 
course  in  medicine  and  surgery. 

The  organization  of  the  Association  of  the  Alumni  was  effected 
during  Dr.  Delafield's  presidency,  and  the  college  faculty  for 
seven  years  under  his  administration  was:  Joseph  Mather  Smith, 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Clinical  Medicine ;  Robert 
Watts,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Anatomy ;  Willard  Parker,  M.  D.,  Pro- 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  431 


fessor  of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery;  Chandler  Rob- 
bins  Gilman,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and  the  Diseases  of 
Women  and  Children ;  Alonzo  Clark,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Pathology 
and  Practical  Medicine;  John  Call  Dalton,  M.  D.,  Professor  of 
Physiology  and  Microscopic  Anatomy;  Samuel  St.  John,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Chemistry.  Dr.  Gilman  died  of  obstructive  cardiac 
diseajse,  on  September  26,  1865,  and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Theodore 
Gaillard  Thomas.  The  death  of  Dr.  J.  M.  Smith  created  another 
vacancy  in  the  faculty,  his  demise  occurring  on  April  22,  1866. 
In  1867  Dr.  Freeman  Josiah  Bumstead  was  appointed  Clinical 
Lecturer  on  Venereal  Diseases,  and  by  request  temporarily  added 
to  his  duties  by  accepting  the  responsibility  of  continuing  the  lec- 
tures. In  1867-68,  Dr.  James  W.  McLane  followed  Dr.  Bumstead 
ajs  Lecturer  on  Materia  Medica,  and  was  named  for  the  chair  in 
1868.  In  1872  he  transferred  his  attention  to  obstetrics,  and  Dr. 
Edward  Curtis  became  Lecturer  on  Materia  Medica,  advancing  in 
due  course  to  the  professorship.  Dr.  Watts,  Professor  of  Anatomy, 
was  in  delicate  health  at  the  close  of  the  collegiate  session  of 
1866-67,  and  sought  recuperation  in  a  sea  voyage,  later  seeking  the 
same  in  the  more  clement  climate  of  the  continent.  However,  com- 
plications developed,  and  on  September  8,  1867,  he  died,  in  Paris, 
France.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  chair  of  anatomy  by  Dr.  Henry 
B.  Sands.  Yet  another  change  occurred  in  the  faculty  principals 
during  Dr.  Delafield's  presidency.  Dr.  Willard  Parker,  who  had 
been  of  such  material  assistance  to  the  college  for  so  many  years, 
resigned  in  1870,  and  Dr.  Thomas  M.  Markoe  advanced  to  the 
chair  from  an  adjunct  professorship.  Dr.  Edward  Delafield  died 
on  February  18,  1875.  As  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  and 
of  the  faculty  he  had  served  the  institution  ably  for  over  forty 
years. 

Dr.  Alonzo  Clark  became  president,  also  dean  of  the  college,  in 
1875,  and  conducted  its  affairs  for  nine  years,  when  failing  health 
necessitated  his  resignation.  The  faculty  for  1876,  the  first  under 
President  Clark,  was:  Alonzo  Clark,  M.  D.,  President,  and  Pro- 
fessor of  Pathology  and  Practical  Medicine ;  Willard  Parker,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery;  John  C.  Dalton,  M.  D.,  Professor 
of  Physiology  and  Hygiene;  Samuel  St.  John,  M.  D.,  Professor 
of  Chemistry  and  Medical  Jurisprudence;  Thomas  M.  Markoe, 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  Surgery ;  T.  Gaillard  Thomas,  M.  D.,  Professor 
of  Obstetrics  and  the  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children;  John  T. 


432 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Metcalfe,  M.  D.,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine;  Henry 
B.  Sands,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Anatomy;  James  W.  Lane,  M.  D., 
Adjunct  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and  Diseases  of  Women  and  Chil- 
dren; Thomas  T.  Sabine,  M.  D.,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Anatomy; 
Charles  F.  Chandler,  Ph.  D.,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Chemistry  and* 
Medical  Jurisprudence;  Edward  Curtis,  M,  D.,  Professor  of  Ma- 
teria Medica  and  Therapeutics;  Francis  Delafield,  M.  D.,  Adjunct' 
Lecturer  on  Pathology  and  Practical  Medicine;  John  G.  Curtis, 
M.  D.,  Adjunct  Lecturer  on  Physiology  and  Hygiene ;  William  Det- 
mold,  M.  D.,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Clinical  and  Military  Surgery ; 
William  H.  Draper,  M.  D.,  Clinical  Professor  of  Diseases  of  the 
Skin;  Cornelius  R.  Agnew,  M.  D.,  Clinical  Professor  of  Diseases 
of  the  Eye  and  Ear;  Abraham  Jacobi,  M.  D.,  Clinical  Professor  of 
Diseases  of  Children ;  Fessenden  N.  Otis,  M.  D.,  Clinical  Professor 
of  Venereal  Diseases;  Edward  C.  Seguin,  M.  D.,  Clinical  Professor 
of  Diseases  of  the  Mind  and  Nervous  System ;  George  M.  Lefferts, 
M.  D.,  Clinical  Lecturer  on  Laryngoscopy  and  Diseases  of  the 
Throat;  Charles  McBurney,  M.  D.,  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy; 
Charles  Kelsey,  M.  D.,  Assistant  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy.  These 
were  aided  by  a  corps  of  twenty-three  clinical  assistants,  all  medical 
graduates.  The  number  of  medical  students  attending  the  lectures 
that  year  was  413.  Clinical  instruction  had  become  much  ampli- 
fied ;  ten  separate  clinics  were  held  each  week  in  the  college  build- 
ing, and  two  rooms  on  the  third  floor  which  had  been  intended  for 
hospital  wards  for  the  care  of  patients  immediately  prior  to  and 
after  a  surgical  operation,  had  to  be  given  to  college  purposes 
proper,  and  later  it  was  necessary  to  remove  the  laboratory  to  a 
room  on  the  ground  floor  which  had  been  used  as  a  store. 

Dr.  St.  John,  Professor  of  Chemistry,  died  on  September  9, 
1876,  and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Chandler,  his  adjunct.  In  1879, 
Dr.  Francis  Delafield  was  added  to  the  faculty  as  Director  of  the 
Pathological  Laboratory.  In  1880  Drs.  W.  T.  Bull  and  W.  S. 
Halsted  became  first  and  second  Demonstrators  of  Anatomy,  re- 
spectively, and  Dr.  Geo.  H.  Fox,  Clinical  Lecturer  on  Diseases  of 
the  Skin.  Dr.  Theophile  M.  Prudden  was  appointed  Director  of 
the  Physiological  and  Pathological  Laboratory  of  the  Alumni  Asso- 
ciation. In  1882,  Dr.  Bull  became  chief  in  anatomy.  Dr.  Francis 
H.  Markoe  being  made  second  Assistant  Demonstrator.  In  1883, 
Dr.  George  M.  Tuttle  became  assistant  to  the  chair  of  obstetrics. 

The  1878  college  catalogue  contained  minute  information  as  to 


JOHN  C.  DALTON 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  433 


the  didactic  instruction,  and  also  announced  that  the  diploma  o£ 
the  college  would  be  recognized  in  the  British  Isles  as  evidence  of 
three  years'  medical  study,  by  all  bodies  which  confer  the  degrees 
of  Bachelor  in  Medicine  (M.  B.),  Master  in  Surgery  (S.  M.),  and 
Doctor  in  Medicine  (M.  D.), 

In  1880  it  was  announced  that  the  collegiate  year  would  be  a 
single  session  of  somewhat  over  seven  months,  to  commence  Octo- 
ber 1st  and  end  during  the  first  part  of  May.  The  change  was 
planned  so  that  the  students  might  attend  fewer  didactic  lectures 
daily,  thus  gaining  time  for  clinical  study,  laboratory  work,  and 
recitations. 

In  1882  the  College  was  authorized  to  nominate  for  appointment 
its  proportion  of  members  of  the  house  staff  of  Bellevue  Hospital, 
and  accordingly  the  college  catalogue  of  that  year  announced  that 
the  college  would  twice  each  year  nominate  one  medical  and  one 
surgical  junior  assistant  for  appointment  to  Bellevue  Hospital, 
after  competitive  examination.  Arrangements  were  also  made  to 
fill  appointments  on  the  resident  staffs  of  other  city  hospitals  from 
the  graduates  of  the  college. 

Dr.  Alonzo  Clark  resigned  in  1884,  living  in  retirement  for 
three  years  thereafter,  when  he  died.  The  official  records  of  the 
college  contain  gratifying  tribute  to  his  memory  and  work.  He 
made  substantial  bequests  to  the  College,  one  of  which  founded  the 
Alonzo  Clark  Scholarship  and  Prize.  One  bequest,  representing 
a  value  of  $10,500,  the  trustees  of  the  college  were  unable  to  accept, 
because  of  limitations  of  charter. 

In  1880  was  commenced,  by  a  committee  of  the  Alumni  Associa- 
tion of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  the  compilation  of 
a  catalogue  of  graduates,  a  labor  of  much  magnitude  undertaken 
by  Drs.  Ellsworth  Eliot,  John  Shrady,  and  A.  E.  M.  Purdy. 
Eventually  the  work  was  completed  and  published,  the  volume  con- 
taining one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  pages. 

Dr.  John  Call  Dalton  was  the  tenth  president,  serving  from  1884 
until  his  death  in  1889.  In  the  first  year  of  his  presidency  the  num- 
ber of  students  was  505,  and  the  graduating  class  numbered  105.  In 
his  last  year's  service,  the  number  of  students  had  increased  to  809, 
a  gain  of  over  sixty  per  cent.  During  his  administration  the  col- 
lege benefited  considerably  by  the  princely  benefactions  of  William 
H.  Vanderbilt  and  his  children.  Mr.  Vanderbilt  expended  up- 
wards of  a  half  million  dollars,  presenting  the  trustees  with  a  tract 


434 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


of  land,  for  which  he  had  paid  $200,000,  and  his  personal  check 
for  $300,000,  to  be  expended  in  the  erection  of  suitable  college 
buildings  upon  said  land,  which  comprised  twenty-nine  lots  sit- 
uated between  Fifty-ninth  and  Sixtieth  streets  and  Ninth  and 
Tenth  avenues.  This  gift  was  made  by  him  to  the  college  on  Octo- 
ber 17,  1884,  but  the  college  was  unable  to  enter  into  possession 
for  six  months  thereafter,  because  its  charter  inhibited  the  college 
from  holding  property  exceeding  $150,000  in  value,  a  limitation 
subsequently  removed  by  act  of  the  Legislature. 

The  tract  which  was  so  soon  to  bear  a  stately  pile  was  then  prac- 
tically vacant;  to  the  north  and  west  the  region  was  yet  in  its 
native  wildness  and  almost  uninhabited,  but  almost  simultaneous 
with  the  beginning  of  work  on  the  college  land,  the  work  of  im- 
provement began  all  through  the  neighborhood.  The  work  of 
excavation  was  prosecuted  with  great  difficulty,  more  than  9,000 
cubic  yards  of  stone  having  to  be  removed.  However,  on  April 
24,  1886,  the  cornerstone  was  laid,  and  the  buildings  rapidly  rose, 
the  inauguration  of  the  college  building  taking  place  on  Septem- 
ber 29,  1887,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  and  distinguished  assem- 
blage. Upon  this  occasion  several  gifts  of  great  historic  value 
were  made  to  the  college,  including  a  bronze  portrait  bust  of  the 
then  recently  deceased  Mr.  William  H.  Vanderbilt,  a  portrait  bust 
of  Dr.  David  Hosack,  another  of  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  and  a 
portrait  of  Dr.  John  C.  Dalton.  The  total  cost  of  the  buildings  was 
$310,924.41,  all  covered  by  the  gift  of  Mr.  William  H.  Yanderbilt, 
the  original  gift  of  $300,000  having  meanwhile  been  added  to  by 
interest  upon  unexpended  balances.  Further  sums  to  cover  the 
expenses  of  furnishing  the  rooms  were  from  time  to  time  prior  to 
the  inauguration  contributed  by  Mr.  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  and  Mr. 
George  W.  Vanderbilt,  and  ultimately  the  institution  came  into 
the  use  of  *'a  building  complete  in  every  part  and  admirably 
adapted  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  intended. ' '  Soon  after- 
ward, the  children  of  Mr.  Vanderbilt  supplemented  the  gift  made 
by  their  father  by  two  beneficent  creations — the  Sloane  Maternity 
Hospital  and  the  Vanderbilt  Clinic — ^both  to  be  forever  associated 
with  and  be  parts  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  Mr. 
Sloane  defrayed  the  cost  of  the  building,  known  as  the  Sloane 
Maternity  Hospital,  on  the  college  grounds,  at  an  outlay  of  $526,- 
300,  and  Mrs.  Sloane,  daughter  of  Mr.  William  H.  Vanderbilt, 
provided  an  endowment  fund  of  $377,300.    Soon  afterwards  the 


WILLIAM  H.  VANDERBILT 
From  Bust  in  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
Modeled  from  Life  by  J.  Q.  A.  Ward 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  435 


sons  of  Mr.  William  H.  Vanderbilt  donated  the  sum  necessary  for 
the  establishing  of  the  Vanderbilt  Clinic;  excavations  for  both 
buildings  were  made  in  1886,  and  both  were  ready  for  occupancy 
in  the  following  year.  The  formal  inauguration  took  place  on 
December  29,  1887.  A  further  gift  was  made  by  the  Vanderbilt 
family  in  1889,  when  owners  of  a  small  lot  bounding  the  eastern 
limit  of  the  college  property  on  Fifty-ninth  street  exacted  the 
sum  of  $20,000  for  the  realty,  which  Mr.  Vanderbilt  ultimately 
paid  to  prevent  the  erection  thereon  of  a  lofty  apartment  house. 

The  faculty  of  medicine  in  1884,  the  first  year  of  the  adminis- 
tration of  Dr.  Dalton,  included  Drs.  Alonzo  Clark,  Thomas  Mas- 
ters Markoe,  William  Detmold,  Theodore  Gaillard  Thomas,  John 
Thomas  Metcalfe,  Henry  Berton  Sands,  James  Woods  McLane, 
Thomas  Taunton  Sabine,  Charles  Frederic  Chandler,  Edward 
Curtis,  Francis  Delafield,  John  Green  Curtis,  William  Henry 
Draper,  Cornelius  Rea  Agnew,  Abraham  Jacobi,  Fessenden  Nott 
Otis,  Edward  Constant  Seguin,  George  Morewood  Lefferts,  George 
Henry  Fox,  Theophile  Mitchell  Prudden,  Robert  Fulton  Weir, 
William  Stewart  Halsted,  Francis  Hartman  Markoe,  George  Mont- 
gomery Tuttle,  Richard  John  Hall,  George  Livingston  Peabody, 
and  Alonzo  Brayton  Ball.  All  the  names  noted  as  of  the  faculty 
of  1884  were  contained  in  the  college  records  of  the  faculty  of 
1887,  excepting  Charles  Frederick  Chandler  and  William  Stewart 
Halsted,  and  in  addition  the  faculty  of  1887  included  Drs.  William 
Tillinghast  Bull,  Frank  Hartley,  George  Sumner  Huntington, 
James  West  Roosevelt,  Arthur  Henry  Elliott,  Albert  Henry  Buck, 
Charles  Ernest  Pellew,  and  Bern  Budd  Gallaudet,  with  a  clinical 
staff,  the  chiefs  of  which  were  Drs.  L.  B.  Bangs,  W.  R.  Birdsall, 
D.  B.  Delavan,  F.  Huber,  G.  S.  Huntington,  F.  W.  Jackson,  G.  T. 
Jackson,  H.  Richards,  C.  Ware,  and  David  Webster. 

The  standard  of  instruction  was  high,  and  it  is  of  particular 
interest,  as  indicating  the  lofty  conscientiousness  of  the  college 
authorities,  to  note  two  details  of  the  records  of  those  years.  In 
September,  1887,  eighteen  candidates  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine  were  examined,  and  nine,  or  fifty  per  cent,  were  rejected. 
In  April  and  May,  1888,  139  presented  themselves  for  the  degree, 
but  thirty-three  failed  to  satisfy  the  examiners. 

In  November,  1888,  Dr.  Dalton  completed  the  writing  of  a  his- 
tory of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and  it  met  the 
warm  approval  of  the  trustees,  who  ordered  an  edition  of  fifteen 


436 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


hundred  copies,  at  the  expense  of  the  college.  The  work  ''was  of 
a  verity  a  labor  of  love  on  the  part  of  its  distinguished  author,  who 
died  within  six  months  of  its  publication. 

Dr.  Dalton  was  succeeded  to  the  presidency  by  Dr.  James  Woods 
McLane,  in  1889.  The  college  at  that  time  had  become  of  great 
magnitude,  the  report  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  September  1, 
1889,  recording  the  attendance  of  701  students,  of  whom  298  were 
from  States  other  than  New  York,  and  twenty-five  were  from 
foreign  countries.  The  income  of  the  college  had  increased  to  the 
sum  of  $91,011.62,  and  the  expenses  of  instruction  had  increased 
to  $58,307.62.  The  value  of  the  college  property,  the  Sloane  Mater- 
nity Hospital  included,  had  increased  to  $1,147,202.71. 

In  May,  1889,  Drs.  Thomas  Markoe,  William  T.  Bull,  and  Charles 
McBurney  were  appointed  Professors  of  Surgery.  There  were 
some  other  changes,  and  a  chair  of  mental  and  nervous  diseases 
was  created,  and  the  office  of  demonstrator  of  chemistry  and 
physics  was  also  created.  In  1890  the  total  number  of  degrees 
conferred  from  the  beginning  of  the  college  was  given  at  4,846, 
and  the  financial  condition  of  the  college  was  stated  to  be  ''most 
gratifying,"  the  total  value  of  its  property  being  estimated  at 
$1,352,818.13,  with  no  existing  indebtedness.  In  the  same  year 
the  average  expenses  of  the  students  were  given  as:  Annual 
tuition  fees,  $200;  table  board,  thirty-five  weeks,  $125  to  $140; 
lodgings  for  same  period,  $105 ;  text  books,  society  fees,  etc.,  $15 ; 
total,  excluding  purely  personal  expenses,  $455  to  $460. 

About  that  time,  Columbia  College,  of  which  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  had  been  considered  its  medical  depart- 
ment since  1860,  assumed  the  dignity  of  a  University,  and,  as 
President  Low  in  his  first  annual  address  remarked,  ' '  at  one  stroke 
Columbia  ceased  to  be  divided  into  fragments,  and  took  upon 
herself  the  aspect  of  a  university,  wherein  each  department  was 
related  to  every  other,  and  every  one  strengthened  all. ' '  The  rela- 
tionship hitherto  existing  between  the  Columbia  College  and  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  though  harmonious,  was  so 
anomalous  as  to  be  little  more  than  nominal.  The  Medical  College 
entered  cordially  into  the  university  idea,  and,  with  a  view  to  the 
establishment  of  a  more  intimate  relationship  between  the  two 
institutions,  it  was  arranged  that  their  commencement  exercises 
should  be  held  jointly,  and  was  accordingly  held  on  June  11, 
1890,  the  Hon.  Seth  Low,  president  of  Columbia  College,  on  that 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  437 


occasion  presenting  the  diplomas  to  the  graduates  in  medicine  of 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  The  way  was  thus  pre- 
pared for  a  closer  union,  the  consummation  of  which  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  authorities  of  the  two  institutions  for  some  time 
thereafter,  and  on  February  4,  1891,  the  representatives  of  the 
colleges  prepared  an  instrument,  by  the  terms  of  which  the  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  agreed  to  convey  to  Columbia 
College  all  its  property,  real  and  personal,  provided  same  be  main- 
tained by  Columbia  College  for  the  uses  and  purposes  connected 
with  medical  education.  On  March  24,  1891,  the  Legislature 
enacted  a  law  authorizing  the  union.  The  provisional  agreement 
was  ratified  by  the  parties  thereto,  with  an  additional  stipulation 
that  the  medical  faculty  ''shall  be  the  managing  board  of  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and  as  such  shall  have  power 
to  elect  from  their  number  a  president,  who  shall  be  the  president 
of  the  managing  board  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons. ' ' 
The  instrument  was  executed  on  June  5,  1891,  and  attested  by 
George  G.  Wheelock,  M.  D.,  registrar  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  and  by  John  B.  Pine,  clerk  of  the  trustees  of  Colum- 
bia College.  The  property  thus  transferred  to  Columbia  College 
was  estimated  to  have  a  value  at  that  time  of  $1,652,850.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Medical  College  gained  in  importance  through  its 
association  with  the  University  body,  and  by  the  larger  instruc- 
tional advantages  afforded  by  various  schools  under  the  University 
management  in  sciences  allied  to  that  of  medicine. 

By  special  enactment,  in  1892,  the  faculty  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  was  made  to  consist  of  the  president,  and 
of  the  occupants  of  eight  chairs,  anatomy,  physiology,  chemistry, 
pathology,  materia  medica  and  therapeutics,  practice  of  medicine, 
surgery,  and  obstetrics;  and  three  officers  of  instruction  were  to 
be  appointed  by  the  trustees  of  the  University  after  nomination 
by  the  faculty.  The  faculty  was  to  elect  from  its  own  members 
a  dean,  who  should  hold  office  for  a  term  of  five  years.  Under  the 
plan  of  college  union,  the  office  of  president  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  was  abrogated,  consequently  Dr.  James 
"W.  McLane,  who  was  then  serving,  was  at  once  elected  dean. 

The  medical  faculty  for  the  year  1891-92  was  as  follows :  James 
W.  McLane,  Dean;  T.  M.  Markoe,  Wm.  Detmold,  T.  G.  Thomas, 
J.  T.  Metcalfe,  C.  F.  Chandler,  E.  Curtis,  F.  Delafield,  J.  G.  Curtis, 
G.  M.  Tuttle,  G.  L.  Peabody,  W.  T.  Bull,  C.  McBurney,  E.  L.  Par- 


438 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


tridge,  M.  A.  Starr,  G.  S.  Huntin^on,  with  an  extensive  clinical 
staff.  In  1893  the  faculty  numbered  eleven  professors  and  forty- 
two  other  instructors  of  various  grades,  and  even  this  large  force 
was  inadequate. 

In  1894  there  were  764  students,  a  gain  of  112  as  compared  with 
the  previous  year,  Dr.  J.  W.  McLane  stating  in  his  annual  report 
''our  numbers  increase,  as  our  advantages,  through  the  generous 
support  of  Columbia,  multiply,  taxing  the  accommodations  in  some 
of  our  departments  to  the  utmost."  In  that  year  was  established 
a  department  of  orthopedics,  in  connection  with  the  chair  of  sur- 
gery. The  year  1895  saw  the  completion  of  important  enlarge- 
ments to  the  Vanderbilt  Clinic  and  the  Sloane  Maternity  Hos- 
pital. The  register  recorded  803  students,  and  Dr.  McLane  pro- 
nounced the  results  of  the  first  year  of  the  newly  adopted  four 
years'  course  as  most  gratifying.  The  following  year  there  was  a 
decreased  attendance,  709  students  having  been  enrolled;  the  de- 
crease was  attributed  to  the  installation  of  the  four-year  curriculum 
in  place  of  the  three-year  course.  Numerous  faculty  changes  oc- 
curred, but  the  instructional  work  continued  on  the  same  high 
standard,  and  ' '  was  most  admirably  conducted. ' '  During  the  aca- 
demic year  ending  June  30,  1897,  the  number  of  students  enrolled 
was  639,  a  further  decrease  of  seventy.  There  were  many  deaths 
and  resignations  among  the  teaching  staff,  and  the  year  was  marked 
by  the  publication  of  many  important  papers  written  by  the  teach- 
ing staff.  The  academic  year  beginning  June  30,  1898,  augured 
well  for  the  future  of  the  institution,  as  the  decrease  in  number 
of  students  had  been  arrested,  the  register  for  that  year  showing 
an  increase  of  127.  The  graduating  class  of  that  year,  the  first 
under  the  four-year  curriculum,  numbered  136,  as  against  twenty- 
nine  in  the  preceding  year. 

In  March,  1898,  Dr.  McLane  tendered  his  resignation  of  the 
chair  of  obstetrics.  His  resignation  was  regretfully  accepted,  with 
the  provision  that  he  continue  as  dean  and  as  trustee  of  Vander- 
l)ilt  Clinic,  Sloane  Maternity  Hospital,  and  Eoosevelt  Hospital, 
and  add  to  his  honors  that  of  Emeritus  Professor  of  Obstetrics. 

During  the  war  with  Spain,  four  Ist-year  students,  six  2nd-year 
students,  three  3rd-year,  six  4th-year,  and  two  students  of  the 
old  curriculum,  entered  the  military  service,  their  names  being 
honored  by  special  mention  in  the  records  of  the  college. 

Due  mainly  to  strenuous  competition  and  to  the  added  rigor 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  439 


which  attended  the  entrance  examinations,  the  number  of  stu- 
dents attending  the  1898-1899  course  was  slightly  less  than  in  the 
previous  year,  738  only  being  enrolled.  In  the  previous  year 
Cornell  University  had  founded  in  New  York  City  a  medical 
school,  to  which  probably  were  attracted  some  students  who  would 
otherwise  have  attended  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons. 
Some  important  additions  to  the  resources  of  the  college  were  made 
in  that  year,  including  the  transfer  to  it  of  the  Sloane  Maternity 
Hospital,  the  founding  of  the  Abraham  Jacobi  Ward  for  Children 
in  Roosevelt  Hospital,  and  the  creation  of  the  0  'Dwyer  Scholarship. 

The  year  1899-1900  stands  well  in  the  records,  801  students 
attending  the  lectures,  and  there  were  165  graduates  at  the  Com- 
mencement. In  the  following  year  there  was  a  further  increase 
of  ten  in  the  number  of  students,  and  during  the  academic  year 
ending  June  30,  1902,  were  enrolled  809,  and  the  commencement 
recorded  a  graduating  class  of  145. 

There  were  some  important  changes  in  the  teaching  staff,  and  it 
is  of  interest  to  record  here  the  faculty  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  as  constituted  for  the  session  1902-03.  The  dean 
was  Dr.  James  W.  McLane,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Obstetrics;  he 
also  was  ex-officio  delegate  to  the  University  Council ;  T.  Gaillard 
Thomas,  Emeritus  Professor  of  the  Practice  of  Medicine ;  Edward 
Curtis,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics; 
Francis  Delafield,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Practice  of  Medicine; 
John  G.  Curtis,  Professor  of  Physiology,  and  delegate  to  Univer- 
sity Council.  The  other  chairs  in  the  faculty  of  1902-03  were 
occupied  by.  George  M.  Tuttle,  gynecology;  Geo.  M.  Peabody, 
materia  medica  and  therapeutics ;  Wm.  T.  Bull,  surgery ;  M.  Allen 
Starr,  diseases  of  mind  and  nervous  system;  Geo.  S.  Huntington, 
anatomy ;  Robert  F.  Weir,  honorary  of  surgery ;  T.  Mitchell  Prud- 
den,  professor  of  pathology,  director  of  the  laboratories  of  pathol- 
ogy, clinical  pathology,  bacteriology  and  hygiene,  and  histology; 
Edwin  B.  Cragin,  obstetrics;  Walter  B.  James,  professor  of  prac- 
tice of  medicine.  The  clinical  professors  and  lecturers  were :  Pro- 
fessors Abraham  Jacobi  (emeritus),  G.  M.  Lefferts,  C.  McBurney, 
Geo.  H.  Fox,  Albert  H.  Buck,  H.  Knapp,  Rob.  W.  Taylor,  F.  P. 
Kinnicutt,  V.  P.  Gibney,  A.  J.  McCosh,  Frank  Hartley,  F.  H.  Mar- 
koe,  A.  Brayton  Ball,  L.  E.  Holt,  William  Hallock,  Chas.  T.  Poore, 
R.  Abbe,  W.  B.  Coley,  R.  H.  Chittenden,  E.  Eliot,  Jr.,  and  F.  Peter- 
son; Adjunct-Professors  F.  S.  Lee,  Chas.  E.  Pellew,  and  W.  J. 


440 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Gies.  In  addition,  the  teaching  staff  embraced  twelve  demon- 
strators, seven  tutors,  and  eleven  assistants.  At  the  Vanderbilt 
Clinic,  the  chief  clinical  instructors  were :  A.  E.  Summer,  depart- 
ment of  medicine;  Ed.  M.  Foote,  surgery;  Frederick  Peterson, 
neurology ;  Royal  Whitman,  orthopedic  surgery ;  Geo.  W.  Jarman, 
gynecology;  Chas.  H.  May,  ophthalmology;  William  K.  Simpson, 
laryngology;  Wm.  Cowen,  otology;  Geo.  T.  Jackson,  dermatology; 
F.  Huber,  diseases  of  children;  James  R.  Hay  den,  genito-urinary 
diseases.  The  importance  attached  to  clinical  instruction  by  the 
governing  staff  may  be  inferred  by  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  the 
additional  staff  at  the  Vanderbilt  Clinic  consisted  of  eight  in- 
structors and  seventy-three  clinical  assistants.  As  to  the  scope 
of  clinical  observation,  it  was  extensive;  during  1901  more  than 
47,000  patients  were  treated  at  the  Clinic. 

During  that  session  Dr.  James  W.  McLane,  dean  of  the  faculty 
and  Emeritus  Professor  of  Obstetrics,  tendered  his  resignation 
and  Dr.  John  G.  Curtis  became  acting  dean,  his  report  for  that 
session  making  prominent  reference  to  the  long  and  useful  service 
rendered  the  college  by  the  retiring  dean,  who  had  held  profes- 
sorial connection  with  it  for  more  than  thirty-five  years.  Dr.  Cur- 
tis's  reference  continues:  ''Dr.  McLane 's  extraordinary  services 
to  this  college,  and  to  the  university,  can  never  be  forgotten,  least 
of  all  by  those  who  have  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  being  his  col- 
leagues. ' ' 

The  entering  class  of  students  for  the  session  of  1902-03  num- 
bered 201,  as  compared  with  269  in  1901-02.  The  entrants,  how- 
ever, were  of  a  higher  standard,  as  of  the  total  number  nearly 
eight  per  cent  more  had  received  college  degrees  than  was  the  case 
in  respect  to  the  entrants  of  1901-02. 

An  important  extension  of  the  college  work  during  that  session 
was  the  establishment  of  summer  courses,  a  proceeding  long  held 
under  advisement,  and  by  which  students  had  at  their  disposal 
during  the  long  vacation  the  splendid  equipment  of  the  college, 
the  Vanderbilt  Clinic,  and  the  Sloane  Maternity  Hospital. 

During  the  session  of  1903-04  Dr.  Emmett  Holt  became  Profes- 
sor of  Diseases  of  Children;  and  Dr.  Christian  A.  Herter  was 
appointed  to  the  chairs  of  Pharmacology  and  Therapeutics.  Dr. 
Herman  Knapp  accepted  the  emeritus  clinical  professorship  of 
ophthalmology,  Dr.  Arnold  Knapp  thereafter  taking  the  depart- 
ment as  Lecturer  in  Ophthalmology.   Dr.  R.  F.  Wier  relinquished 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  441 


the  professorship  of  Surgery,  but  consented  to  act  as  Professor  of 
Clinical  Surgery.  Dr.  John  S.  Thatcher,  Demonstrator  in  Patho- 
logical Anatomy,  was  advanced  to  the  office  of  Clinical  Lecturer 
in  the  Department  of  Medicine.  James  D.  Voorhees,  secretary  to 
the  faculty,  was  appointed  Lecturer  in  Obstetrics,  George  E. 
Brewer  became  Clinical  Lecturer  in  Surgery,  Joseph  A.  Blake 
being  appointed  lecturer  of  same  department,  and  Rolfe  Floyd, 
Lecturer  in  Anatomy. 

The  advent  of  Dr.  Herter  to  the  faculty  in  place  of  Dr.  George 
L.  Peabody,  who  had  resigned  after  long  and  valued  service,  was 
important  in  that  under  his  instruction  practical  work  in  pharma- 
cology was  first  introduced  into  the  curriculum  of  the  college. 

Dr.  George  M.  Tuttle,  head  of  the  department  of  gynecology, 
retired  on  July  1,  1903,  after  nineteen  years  of  service,  the  didactic 
and  clinical  instruction  in  gynecology  during  the  session  of  1903-04 
being  taken  by  Prof.  E.  B.  Cragin,  Drs.  F.  S.  Matthews,  Frank  R. 
Castler,  and  H.  C.  Taylor  being  appointed  instructors  in  gynecol- 
ogy, and  Dr.  W.  S.  Stone  becoming  chief  of  clinic.  Drs.  Forbes 
Hawkes  and  Clarence  A.  McWilliams  also  received  appointments, 
and  Dr.  L.  E.  LaFetra  became  instructor  and  chief  of  clinic,  vice 
Dr.  Francis  Huber,  resigned. 

The  session  of  1903-04  opened  with  a  further  considerably  dimin- 
ished number  of  matriculants,  only  121  enrolling  for  first  year, 
as  against  201  of  the  preceding  session,  and  269  of  1901-02.  How- 
ever, Dr.  John  G.  Curtis,  acting  dean,  said  in  his  annual  report: 
''This  great  decline  in  numbers  is  a  source  of  gratification,  inas- 
much as  it  is  the  immediate  result  of  a  greatly  heightened  standard 
of  admission,  the  excellent  effect  of  which  upon  the  quality  of  the 
entering  class  has  been  made  apparent  at  once."  The  graduating 
class  of  1904  numbered  174,  and  an  interesting  development  of 
the  year  was  the  installation  of  portions  of  the  Museum  of  Human 
and  Comparative  Anatomy,  stated  to  be  **an  anatomical  teaching 
collection  which  is  unrivalled  as  a  study  collection  in  the  dissect- 
ing room." 

Professor  W.  T.  Bull  resigned  the  professorship  of  surgery  during 
that  session,  but  continued  to  take  part  of  the  clinical  lectures  at 
the  Vanderbilt  Clinic,  and  Dr.  J.  A.  Blake  became  administrative 
head  of  the  department  of  surgery.  Dr.  George  E.  Brewer  was 
appointed  Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery,  with  seat  in  faculty,  and 
Dr.  Henry  Mc.  M.  Painter  had  a  like  privilege  when  appointed  Pro- 


442 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


fessor  of  Clinical  Obstetrics.  Prof.  George  M.  Lefferts,  after  a 
service  of  thirty  years  as  teacher  of  laryngology,  resigned,  and 
Dr.  William  K.  Simpson  became  his  successor.  Prof.  Albert  H. 
Buck  resigned  the  department  of  otology,  Prof.  Gorham  Bacon 
taking  his  duties.  Dr.  Arnold  Knapp  was  confirmed  to  the  chair 
of  ophthalmology,  and  Dr.  R.  W.  Taylor,  who  resigned  from  the 
department  of  genito-urinary  diseases,  was  succeeded  by  Prof. 
James  R.  Hayden,  the  report  stating  that  "by  friendly  agreement 
between  Prof.  Blake  and  Prof.  Hayden ' '  the  department  of  genito- 
urinary diseases  was  on  July  1,  1904,  merged  in  that  of  surgery, 
under  the  general  direction  of  Prof.  Blake.  Dr.  Samuel  Waldron 
Lambert  became  Professor  of  Applied  Therapeutics,  Dr.  Hiss, 
Adjunct  Professor  of  Bacteriology;  Dr.  Wood,  Adjunct  Professor 
of  Clinical  Pathology,  and  Dr.  Bailey,  Adjunct  Professor  of 
Normal  Histology.  In  the  department  of  physiology,  Dr.  F.  S. 
Lee  became  professor.  Dr.  R.  Burton-Opitz  adjunct,  and  Dr. 
Haven  Emerson  demonstrator.  During  the  year,  the  department 
of  chemistry  was  merged  in  that  of  physiological  chemistry,  under 
Prof.  Gies. 

The  entering  class  for  the  academic  year  ending  June,  1905,  was 
the  first  under  the  control  of  the  present  dean,  Dr.  Samuel  Waldron 
Lambert.  The  entering  class  numbered  only  98,  though  the  total 
number  of  students  was  550,  and  the  graduating  class  almost 
doubled  that  of  the  first  year.  Some  instructional  innovations  were 
instituted  in  that  year,  it  being  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the 
college  that  there  had  been  a  tutor  appointed  to  aid  instruction  in 
the  diseases  of  children.  Dr.  Frank  S.  Meara  held  weekly  recita- 
tions throughout  the  year  in  that  branch,  giving  thirteen  recita- 
tions to  each  student.  A  practical  course  in  embryology  was 
established,  and  in  gynecology  the  plan  of  instruction  for  third 
and  fourth  year  students  was  reorganized.  In  the  clinical  depart- 
ments 2,311  cases,  including  1,181  pathological  cases,  were  exam- 
ined by  the  students  while  under  instruction ;  and  more  than  one 
thousand  special  cases,  illustrating  some  questions  of  general  diag- 
nosis, differential  or  bacteriological  diagnosis,  surgical  or  medical 
indications  for  treatment,  et  cetera,  were  personally  demonstrated 
to  the  students  of  the  eight  sections. 

In  the  following  year,  further  improvements  in  instruction  were 
effected ;  a  course  of  experimental  surgery  was  established,  on  the 
plan  adopted  with  success  at  Johns  Hopkins  Medical  College,  Bal- 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  443 


timore.  The  course  was  an  elective  one  for  third  year  students, 
and  those  wishing  to  take  up  surgery.  The  plan  provided  for  the 
substitution  of  dogs  (who  have  many  surgical  ailments)  for  human 
beings,  and  in  effect  constituted  a  true  hospital  course.  The  depart- 
ment of  anatomy  had  hitherto  been  somewhat  handicapped  by  the 
lack  of  ready  reference  to  the  records  and  catalogues  appertaining 
thereto,  but  in  that  season  the  trustees  saw  fit  to  appoint  to  that 
department  a  secretary  and  curator.  And  the  faculty  of  the  col- 
lege for  the  year  1905-06  was  increased,  the  professors  of  bacteriol- 
ogy and  clinical  pathology  being  invited  to  join.  There  were  428 
students  in  attendance  during  that  session,  83  being  of  first  year, 
and  152  graduating  at  the  commencement. 

The  following  year  saw  an  even  further  decrease  in  enrollments, 
the  register  recording  only  396  students;  the  graduating  class 
numbered  93.  The  standard  of  instruction  was,  however,  con- 
tinually becoming  higher  and  the  scope  continually  expanding. 
In  that  year  post-graduate  courses  in  operative  surgery,  in  surgical 
technique,  and  in  diseases  of  children,  were  inaugurated;  a  new 
department  of  hydrotherapy  was  established  at  Yanderbilt  Clinic, 
under  the  direction  of  Prof.  Baruch,  and  in  many  other  ways  the 
standard  of  instruction  was  made  worthy  of  the  historic  significance 
to  it  of  that  year,  which  was  the  one  hundredth  of  its  operation. 
At  the  commencement,  made  memorable  by  the  attendance  of  a 
large  number  of  the  alumni,  many  of  whom  came  from  far  distant 
parts.  Dr.  John  G.  Curtis  interestingly  addressed  the  gathering 
on  the  history  of  the  college,  he  being  followed  by  Prof.  William 
H.  Welsh,  who  went  exhaustively  into  the  century's  development 
in  medicine.  Later  a  very  successful  dinner  was  given  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Alumni  Association. 

During  that  year  of  historical  associations,  the  college  was  made 
the  recipient  of  two  portraits  which  are  now  treasured  possessions. 
The  paintings  perpetuate  the  association  with  the  college  of  two 
worthy  New  York  physicians — Dr.  George  M.  Lefferts,  for  many 
years  Professor  and  Emeritus  Professor  of  Laryngology;  and  Dr. 
John  G.  Curtis,  Professor  of  Physiology,  and  ex-acting-dean.  The 
portraits  were  the  gifts  of  anonymous  friends  and  late  pupils  of 
these  two  eminent  educators. 

The  year  of  1908-09  began  upon  a  higher  plan  of  requirement  for 
entrance  than  ever  before ;  the  subjects  of  physics  and  elementary 
inorganic  chemistry  were  placed  among  those  demanded  of  appli- 


444 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


cants  for  admission,  and  as  a  consequence  the  entrance  class  was 
even  less  than  before,  the  total  number  of  students  taking  the  lec- 
tures during  that  session  being  only  325,  of  whom  81  graduated. 
Dr.  George  T.  Jackson  was  appointed  Professor  of  Dermatology; 
Dr.  Robert  Lewis  became  Professor  of  Clinical  Otology ;  and  Drs. 
Andrew  J.  McCosh  and  Alexander  B.  Johnson  were  appointed 
Professors  of  Clinical  Surgery. 

Following  the  plan  adopted  by  many  of  the  London  hospitals, 
several  New  York  hospitals  about  that  time  admitted  to  practice 
therein,  under  the  designation  of  clinical  clerks,  medical  students 
who  were  in  their  final  year,  and  in  order  to  encourage  the  prac- 
tice the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  so  modified  its  cur- 
riculum that  the  fourth  year  student  might  be  allowed  to  follow 
such  hospital  services  for  two  months  at  a  time. 

Some  important  faculty  changes  were  made  necessary  during 
the  session  of  1908-09,  many  through  death.  Dr.  Andrew  J.  Mc- 
Cosh, Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery ;  Dr.  William  T.  Bull,  Emeritus 
Professor  of  Surgery,  and  Dr.  Carleton  P.  Flint,  Instructor  in 
Surgery,  were  among  the  deceased  of  that  year.  The  losses  to  the 
college  were  deplored,  and  regarding  Dr.  Bull  the  faculty  by  reso- 
lution unanimously  desired  to  pass  into  permanent  college  record 
their  opinion  that  ''as  a  great  teacher  and  surgeon  of  world  wide 
reputation,  he  was  an  honor  to  the  faculty  .  .  .  and  did  much  to 
elevate  American  surgery. ' '  Dr.  J.  G.  Curtis,  Professor  of  Physiol- 
ogy, and  Dr.  Mitchell  Prudden,  Professor  of  Pathology,  both 
applied  for  retirement  under  the  Carnegie  Foundation,  because  of 
length  of  service,  and  Dr.  Walter  B.  James,  Professor  of  the 
Practice  of  Medicine,  desired  to  be  relieved  from  the  duties  of 
routine  administration,  so  that  he  might  devote  himself  to  clinical 
research  in  the  Presbyterian  Hospital,  and  therefore  requested  to 
be  transferred  to  a  chair  of  clinical  medicine. 

These  changes  resulted  in  a  partial  readjustment  of  departmental 
classification,  and  of  the  curriculum  of  instruction,  during  the 
following  session ;  several  new  departments  were  organized,  and  the 
general  curriculum  was  changed  so  as  to  bring  the  students  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  course  into  closer  touch  with  clinical  and 
practical  work.  The  old  department  of  pathology  formerly  in- 
cluded the  scientific  branches  of  normal  histology,  embryology,  bac- 
teriology, and  clinical  pathology.  These  several  sciences  under 
the  reorganization  were  divided  into  departments,  with  distinct 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  445 


administrative  organizations.  Normal  histology  and  embryology 
were  transferred  as  a  subdivision  to  the  department  of  anatomy, 
and  placed  under  the  charge  of  Dr.  H.  Von  W.  Schulte,  Adjunct 
Professor  of  Anatomy.  Clinical  Pathology  passed  under  Prof. 
Wood,  with  Dr.  Karl  M.  Vogel  as  adjunct,  Dr.  Augustus  B.  Wads- 
worth  became  Adjunct  Professor  of  Bacteriology,  under  Prof. 
Hiss;  and  Dr.  William  G.  MacCuUum,  from  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, received  appointment  to  the  chair  of  pathology.  Dr.  R. 
Burton-Opitz  took  charge  of  the  department  of  physiology  tem- 
porarily, and  the  office  made  vacant  by  the  resignation  of  Dr.  J ames 
was  given  to  Dr.  Theodore  C.  Janeway.  During  the  session  a 
very  successful  series  of  university  lectures  on  sanitary  science  and 
public  health  was  delivered  at  the  college,  the  lecturers  including 
many  noted  specialists  on  the  subjects. 

There  were  345  students  in  the  session  1908-09,  of  whom  96  were 
first-year  students.  The  year  was  also  made  the  occasion  of  inter- 
esting ceremonies  arranged  by  the  Alumni  Association  to  mark  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  its  organization.  By  organizing  a  series  of 
clinical  meetings  to  be  held  in  the  college  building,  an  effort  was 
made  to  bring  the  Alumni  Association  into  closer  relation  with 
the  College.  In  that  year  Mr.  E.  T.  Boag,  who  for  forty-one  years 
had  held  the  office  of  registrar  of  the  Alumni  Association  was 
retired  under  the  rules  of  the  Carnegie  Foundation.  Mr.  Boag  took 
with  him  into  retirement  the  good  wishes  of  more  than  five  thou- 
sand graduates  whom  he  had  graduated  during  his  long  years  of 
service. 

The  session  of  1909-10  brought  a  further  extension  of  hospitals 
admitting  final  year  students  to  practice  therein  as  clinical  clerks, 
and  considerable  medical  research  was  stimulated  by  a  special 
fund  available  in  that  and  the  previous  year  for  cancer  research, 
the  late  Mr.  George  Crocker  having  bequeathed  more  than  one 
million  dollars  to  Columbia  University  for  that  purpose. 

Considerable  thought  had  of  late  years  been  given  by  the  boards 
of  trustees,  as  well  as  by  the  members  of  the  faculty,  to  the  ques- 
tion of  effecting  the  removal  of  the  college  to  a  location  more  con- 
venient to  the  other  departments  of  Columbia  University,  and  in 
1910  the  trustees  signified  their  intention  of  removing  the  college 
to  a  site  which  had  been  selected  at  116th  street  and  Amsterdam 
avenue,  adjacent  to  the  University  buildings.  The  college  had 
never  been  in  one  location  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  it  was 


446 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


thought  to  have  outgrown  the  facilities  possible  at  Fifty-ninth 
street  and  Tenth  avenue.  However,  nothing  further  was  promoted 
in  that  year  regarding  the  removal,  neither  has  the  matter  further 
advanced  up  to  this  writing. 

In  1910  was  consummated  an  arrangement  to  establish  which 
Dr.  Samuel  Waldron  Lambert  had  been  strenuously  endeavoring 
for  many  years.  It  gave  to  the  college  what  was  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  a  university  hospital,  in  which  the  students  could  get, 
without  hindrance,  closely  into  touch  with  actual  practice,  the 
Presbyterian  Hospital  and  Columbia  University,  acting  in  behalf 
of  its  School  of  Medicine,  forming  a  close  alliance  for  the  purpose. 
Dr.  Lambert  referred  to  the  arrangement  as  "a  mark  of  modern 
progress  in  hospital  management  and  in  medical  education  .  .  . 
a  large  independent  hospital  had  appreciated  the  advantages  to 
it  of  fostering  medical  education  in  its  wards,  and  of  delegating 
its  scientific  work  to  the  university."  He  further  stated  it  to  be 
''the  first  important  step  to  give  to  New  York  State  the  position 
in  medical  education  at  all  commensurate  with  those  clinical 
advantages  which  are  inherent  in  its  size  and  in  its  cosmopolitan 
life. ' '  The  agreement  placed  one  half  of  the  medical  service  of  the 
Presbyterian  Hospital  in  the  hands  of  the  Professor  of  Medicine  of 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and  proposed  to  erect  an 
entire  new  hospital,  the  alliance  securing  to  the  school  "a  new 
hospital  built  for  the  express  purposes  of  providing  for  the  educa- 
tional needs  of  the  college  in  medicine,  in  surgery,  and  in  pathol- 

ogy." 

There  were  seventy-nine  first-year  students  during  1910-11,  the 
full  enrollment  of  that  academic  year  being  346,  including  a  grad- 
uation class  of  70,  twenty  of  whom  were  students  who  had  been  ad- 
mitted to  "advanced  standing"  by  reason  of  study  of  medicine  for 
one  or  two  years  in  some  other  recognized  college  of  medicine,  and 
had  come  to  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  for  their  final 
years.  The  record  of  that  year,  in  one  respect,  is  a  deplorable  one ; 
four  important  members  of  the  faculty  died  during  the  session. 
Dr.  C.  A.  Herter,  Professor  of  Pharmacology  and  Therapeutics, 
who  died  on  December  5,  1910,  had  held  the  appointment  since 
1903;  Dr.  Herman  Knapp,  who  by  long  and  worthy  service  had 
earned  the  Emeritus  Professorship  of  Ophthalmology,  died  on 
April  30,  1911 ;  Dr.  Charles  C.  Ransom  passed  away  on  September 
13,  1910.   He  had  only  recently  joined  the  teaching  staff,  as  Asso- 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  447 


ciate  in  Clinical  Medicine;  and  Dr.  Charles  T.  Poore,  Associate  in 
Clinical  Surgery,  died  on  April  4,  1911.  Several  new  appointments 
to  the  faculty  were  consequently  made.  The  chief  professorship 
of  physiology  was  given  the  title  of  the  Dalton  Professorship,  in 
memory  of  Dr.  John  C.  Dalton,  the  first  experimental  physiologist 
in  America,  and  for  thirty-five  years  Professor  of  Physiology  at 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  also  president  of  the  col- 
lege during  the  years  1884-1889. 

The  addition  to  the  Sloane  Hospital  for  Women  was  opened  in 
1910-11  session,  and  the  gynecological  department  thus  obtained 
added  facilities  for  its  work.  The  department  of  ophthalmology 
received  the  income  of  a  scholarship  fund  for  the  support  of  an 
advanced  work  in  this  specialty.  The  fund  was  established  by  the 
children  of  the  late  Dr.  Abram  Du  Bois,  a  graduate  of  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  and  is  known  as  the  Abram  Du  Bois 
Fellowship  in  Ophthalmology. 

The  Alumni  Association  again  gave  evidence  of  its  virility,  pro- 
posing from  its  invested  funds  to  establish  a  ''health  station," 
under  the  direction  of  the  professor  of  physiology,  the  station  to 
be  equipped  with  modern  apparatus  for  electrocardiographic  and' 
other  mechanical  studies  of  the  circulation. 

The  session  of  1912-13  saw  much  reorganization  of  departments. 
It  was  decided  to  merge  the  department  of  clinical  pathology  in 
that  of  medicine,  the  change  resulting  in  a  still  more  intimate  con- 
nection between  the  laboratory  study  of  disease  and  the  theoretical 
and  clinical  teaching  of  medical  subjects.  The  change  was  to  some 
extent  influenced  by  the  advancement  of  Prof.  Wood  from  the  chair 
of  clinical  pathology  to  that  of  director  of  cancer  research.  The 
new  addition  to  the  Sloane  Hospital  much  facilitated  the  study  of 
gynecology;  in  neurology  the  instruction  was  extended  to  include 
the  demonstration  of  many  of  the  recent  developments  in  diagnosis 
and  therapeutics,  which  are  included  in  the  study  and  treatment 
of  functional  nervous  diseases,  and  has  included  the  use  of  psychic 
therapy  and  hypnotism.  The  department  of  physiology  offered  for 
the  first  time  a  post-graduate  course  in  clinical  pathology,  and 
about  twenty  graduates  in  medicine  took  the  course.  The  electro- 
cardiagraph  work,  under  Dr.  Williams,  was  very  successful;  the 
apparatus  was  connected  with  the  Vanderbilt  Clinic  by  wire,  thus 
making  it  possible  to  study  cases  in  the  laboratory  which  were 
seated  in  the  Clinic  four  hundred  feet  distant.    The  departments 


448 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


of  medicine  and  surgery  derived  special  benefit  from  the  arrange- 
ment effected  the  previous  year  with  the  Presbyterian  Hospital  and 
organized  hospital  service  units.  A  small  hospital  for  the  treat- 
ment of  diseases  of  animals  was  also  opened,  and  equipped  in  the 
manner  of  modern  surgery. 

The  registration  during  that  year  numbered  379  students,  81 
of  first  year,  91  of  the  fourth.  A  noteworthy  gift  to  the  institution 
during  that  year  was  that  of  Mrs.  Russell  Sage,  who  donated 
$25,000  to  endow  the  library  of  the  department  of  medicine.  Other 
departmental  libraries  also  received  much  assistance. 

An  important  step  was  taken  by  the  faculty  during  that  winter 
to  place  the  chairs  of  medicine  and  surgery  upon  a  university  basis ; 
a  resolution  was  passed  by  the  faculty  recommending  that  the 
Bard  professor  and  assistant  professor  of  the  practice  of  medicine 
and  the  professor  of  surgery  be  not  permitted  to  engage  in  the 
general  practice  of  medicine  and  surgery  during  the  academic 
year,  reasoning  that  the  education  of  university  students  in  clin- 
ical medicine  and  surgery  demanded  the  exclusive  thought  and 
energy  of  men  with  scientific  training,  working  in  adequate  hos- 
pitals and  laboratories.  The  trustees  of  the  University  endorsed 
the  action  of  the  faculty,  which  was  * '  in  general  principle ' '  adopted 
by  Columbia  University. 

During  the  year  1912-13,  354  students  attended  the  lectures, 
including  78  of  first  year  and  a  graduating  class  of  100.  The 
dean's  report  refers  to  student  migration,  and  emphasizes  the 
advantage  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  as  a  finishing 
school  for  medical  students  who  pass  their  preliminary  years  of 
medical  study  in  other  schools.  Certain  changes  were  made  in  the 
curriculum  for  that  session,  and  it  was  proposed  to  add  a  fifth 
year  which  would  be  spent  in  hospital  work,  the  student  not  to 
be,  as  previously,  ' '  relegated  to  the  drudgery  of  the  lowest  member 
of  an  ordinary  hospital  house  staff,"  but  the  work  should  be  done 
under  supervision  and  the  student  placed  ''under  school  as  well 
as  hospital  control." 

The  faculty  lost  some  of  its  most  eminent  members  during  that 
year.  Dr.  James  W.  McLane,  ex-dean  and  Emeritus  Professor  of 
Obstetrics,  passed  away,  the  faculty  in  referring  to  the  sad  event 
admitting  that  Dr.  McLane  "was  the  most  prominent  personality 
in  leading  this  college  from  the  ranks  of  the  proprietary  schools 
to  a  university  standing."   Dr.  Edward  Curtis,  Emeritus  Profes- 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  449 


sor  of  Materia  Medica,  died,  and  Prof.  Philip  Hanson  Hiss,  Jr., 
Professor  of  Bacteriology,  on  February  27,  1913.  Of  the  latter  was 
recorded  a  resolution  adopted  by  the  faculty  following  his  demise 
''appreciated  for  his  extreme  ability  in  his  own  field." 

During  that  year  the  erection  of  a  three-storied  building,  at  116th 
street  and  Amsterdam  avenue,  to  be  used  as  a  laboratory  to  house 
workers  under  the  George  Crocker  Cancer  Research  Fund,  was 
commenced. 

On  September  20,  1913,  Dr.  John  G.  Curtis  died.  He  had  retired 
from  active  participation  in  college  work  four  years  previously, 
but  his  death  prompted  the  unanimous  adoption  of  a  minute  by 
the  faculty  to  "commemorate  Prof.  Curtis 's  long  and  manifold 
services  to  the  College,  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  entire  life." 
Dr.  Curtis  joined  the  teaching  staff  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  in  1870,  and  thirty-nine  years  later  (in  1909)  retired 
to  an  emeritus  professorship.  Another  death  during  that  year 
was  that  of  Prof.  William  Kelly  Simpson,  Professor  of  Laryngol- 
ogy, who  after  a  six  months'  absence  from  the  college  because  of 
illness  died  on  February  6,  1914. 

The  plans  of  Columbia  University  to  improve  medical  education 
underwent  considerable  development  during  the  year  ending  June 
30,  1916.  An  increase  in  the  pre-medical  requirement  for  admis- 
sion to  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  was  determined 
upon,  to  take  effect  after  September,  1918.  The  new  preliminary 
requirement  demands  of  each  entering  student  an  amount  of  work 
equivalent  to  seventy-two  points,  as  rated  by  Columbia,  thus 
placing  every  student  on  the  basis  of  work  demanded  of  those 
students  who  are  candidates  for  the  combined  Bachelor  of  Science 
and  Doctor  of  Medicine  degrees,  based  upon  the  combined  course 
of  six  years'  collegiate  training. 

It  was  also  decided  to  admit  women  to  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  "as  soon  as  facilities  for  their  comfort  and  educa- 
tion can  be  secured,"  the  proviso  being  prompted  by  the  thought 
that  the  opportunity  to  develop  a  new  site  for  the  College  would 
soon  materialize,  although  the  dean's  report  for  the  year  stated 
that  the  development  of  the  plan  for  rebuilding  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  connection  with  a  new  Presbyterian 
Hospital  "has  been  delayed  for  lack  of  funds." 

The  faculty  changes  in  1915-16  were  not  many,  though  a  number 
of  the  teaching  staff  obtained  temporary  leave  of  absence,  so  that 


.450 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


they  might  serve  in  the  medical  corps  of  European  armies.  The 
base  hospitals  at  Jouilly  and  at  Sens  have  been  manned  in  part 
by  officers  of  the  college,  and  one  instructor,  Dr.  Eraser,  an  English 
subject,  resigned  his  appointment  at  the  college  so  that  he  might 
enter  the  English  army.  Prof.  Gorham  Bacon  resigned  as  Profes- 
sor of  Otology  after  twelve  years'  service,  during  which,  in  spite 
of  serious  handicaps,  he  brought  instruction  in  his  department 
'  Ho  a  high  plane  of  efficiency. ' '  Dr.  J.  Raynor  Hayden,  Professor 
of  Urology,  also  resigned,  much  to  the  regret  of  the  faculty,  as 
for  the  twelve  years  he  had  participated  in  professorial  labors  at 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  he  had  been  ' '  a  most  popu- 
lar and  thorough  teacher." 

The  enrollments  for  the  year  1915-16  numbered  554,  which  was 
gratifying,  although  it  included  twenty-six  special  students  who 
were  not  candidates  for  a  degree,  and  97  students  of  the  Graduate 
School  Tvho  were  candidates  for  the  A.  M.  or  Ph.  D.  degrees.  Dur- 
ing the  session,  the  department  of  bacteriology  made  a  prominent 
innovation  in  adding  to  the  elective  courses  lectures  by  prominent 
specialists,  including  Drs.  Noguchi,  Amos,  and  Docher  of  the 
Rockefeller  Institute.  After  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Bacon,  the 
departments  of  laryngology  and  otology  were  combined  under  the 
direction  of  Prof.  CoaMey. 

During  the  one  hundred  and  ten  years  of  its  operation,  the  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  has  maintained  a  praiseworthy 
standard  of  usefulness,  and  to-day  has  the  distinction  of  being  one 
of  the  most  comprehensive  schools  of  medicine  in  the  country,  and 
its  degree  assures  possessors  a  reputable  professional  standing  in 
almost  all  countries.  For  the  year  1916-17,  its  curriculum  includes : 

For  first-year  students : — Anatomy,  including  histology  and  embryology, 
and  organic  chemistry  during  the  first  half  of  the  year.  During  the  second 
half  anatomy  is  continued,  and  physiology  and  physiological  chemistry 
are  studied  by  lectures,  recitations,  demonstrations,  and  in  the  laboratory. 

For  second-year  students : — First  half  devoted  to  completion  of  anatomy 
and  physiology,  and  introduction  of  pharmacology  and  bacteriology.  The 
latter  half  is  given  mainly  to  the  study  of  general,  gross,  and  clinical 
pathology,  and  study  of  medicine  by  elementary  clinic,  and  by  instruction 
in  methods  of  physical  diagnosis.  Preliminary  recitations  in  obstetrics 
and  surgery  are  also  held. 

For  third-year  students: — Recitations  in  medicine  and  surgery  contin- 
ued, and  recitations  in  gynecology,  diseases  of  children,  and  therapeutics 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  451 


begun.  Also  theoretical  or  clinical  lectures  in  medicine,  surgery,  urology, 
pharmacology  and  therapeutics,  obstetrics,  gynecology,  neurology,  dis- 
eases of  children,  ophthalmology^,  dermatology  and  syphilology,  laryngol- 
ogy, otology,  and  orthopedic  surgery.   Also  much  dispensary  observation. 

For  fourth-year  students: — Spent  chiefly  in  hospitals.  Divided  into 
small  groups,  the  students  continue  to  come  into  personal  contact  with 
patients  under  the  supervision  of  the  instructor.  Courses  are  taken  in 
diseases  of  children,  gynecology,  hygiene,  neurology,  obstetrics,  practice  of 
medicine,  and  surgery. 

The  college  has  many  important  fellowships,  scholarships  and 
prizes,  within  its  bestowal,  including  the  Proudfit  Fellowship  in 
Medicine,  the  Doctor  Abram  Du  Bois  Fellowship  (with  an  income 
of  $900  per  annum),  the  Alonzo  Clark  Scholarship,  the  Alumni 
Association  Prize  (of  $500)  ;  the  Cartwright  Prize  of  $500,  the 
Thomas  F.  Cock  Prize,  the  Joseph  Mather  Smith  Prize,  of  $100, 
the  Stevens  Triennial  Prize  of  $200,  the  Harsen  Scholarships 
(five),  the  Faculty  Scholarships  (twenty),  the  William  H.  Van- 
derbilt  scholarships,  the  George  Blumenthal,  Jr.,  Scholarships,  the 
Richard  Butler  Scholarship,  of  $200,  the  David  M.  Devendorf, 
M.  D.,  Scholarship,  of  $250,  the  Francis  E.  Doughty  scholarship  of 
about  $400,  and  the  Frank  Hartley  scholarship,  of  $250,  so  that 
every  inducement  is  given  the  student  to  attain  a  high  degree  of 
efficiency. 

The  faculty  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  for  its 
first  year  (1807)  consisted  of  seven  men,  who  practically  con- 
ducted the  whole  of  the  duties  of  the  institution.  The  teaching 
staff  of  the  college  one  hundred  and  ten  years  later,  for  the  session 
of  1916-1917,  consisted  of  267  persons,  made  up  of  54  professors, 
four  associate  professors,  29  assistant  professors,  30  associate  as- 
sistant professors,  113  instructors,  29  assistant  instructors.  By 
this  comparison  may  be  gauged  the  development  of  the  institution 
during  the  period. 


CHAPTER  II 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 

DURING  the  winter  of  1829-30  was  initiated  a  movement  for 
the  establishment  of  a  university  in  the  city  "on  a  liberal 
and  extensive  foundation. A  meeting  of  citizens  was  held 
January  4,  1830,  at  the  rooms  of  the  Historical  Society,  the  call 
being  signed  by  Drs.  J.  M.  Matthews,  J.  M.  Wainwright,  J.  Augus- 
tine Smith,  Valentine  Mott,  Joseph  Delafield,  IMyndert  Vanse- 
haick,  Hugh  Maxwell,  Isaac  S.  Hone,  and  John  Delafield.  On 
the  6th  a  pamphlet  was  issued  under  the  title  of  ''Considerations 
upon  the  Expediency  and  the  Means  of  Establishing  A  University 
in  the  City  of  New  York,"  in  which  it  was  stated  that  it  was 
''highly  desirable  and  expedient  to  establish  in  the  City  of  New 
York  a  university,  on  a  liberal  foundation,  which  shaU  correspond 
with  the  spirit  and  wants  of  our  country,  which  shall  be  commen- 
surate with  our  great  and  growing  population,  and  which  shall 
enlarge  the  opportunities  of  education  for  such  of  our  youth  as 
shall  be  qualified  and  inclined  to  improve." 

On  October  15th  the  projectors  appointed  a  committee  consisting 
of  Drs.  Matthews  and  Wainwright,  Albert  Gallitin  and  John  Dela- 
field, "to  invite  men  of  eminence  in  higher  education"  to  attend 
a  convention  of  educational  purport  on  October  20,  1830,  such  a 
convocation  probably  having  never  before  been  proposed  within  the 
fifty-six  years  of  national  life.  John  Delafield 's  "Journal  of  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Convention  of  Literary  and  Scientific  Gentle- 
men, held  in  the  Common  Council  Chamber,  New  York,  October, 
1830,"  records  this  unique  convention,  at  which  he  acted  as  secre- 
tary. Many  eminent  academicians  and  scholars  were  present,  most 
of  the  principal  universities  and  colleges  sending  representatives. 
At  that  convention  it  was  clearly  indicated  that  a  school  of  medi- 
cine was  an  important  part  of  the  plans  of  the  University  pro- 
moters. Dr.  George  Bancroft,  probably  the  first  American  who 
had  earned  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.  in  Germany,  drew  the  ideal  of 
an  American  university,  and  stated  that  "in  New  York  the  study 

452 


MEDICAL  COLLEGE,  NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  453 


of  medicine  and  surgery  was  favored.'^  Another  paper  was  de- 
livered by  Dr.  Francis  Lieber,  of  Boston.  On  January  31,  1831, 
officers  of  the  new  University  were  elected,  James  M.  Matthews, 
D.  D.,  being  appointed  chancellor,  and  April  21st  the  University 
was  formally  incorporated  at  Albany. 

No  instruction  was  given  during  1831.  Williams'  Annual 
Register"  for  1831  refers  to  the  shareholders  of  the  New  York 
University  as  "gentlemen  who  have  subscribed  $115,000  toward 
the  object.  The  capital  is  divided  into  shares  of  $25  each,  and 
subscriptions  are  now  making  (1830-1831),  so  as  to  increase  the 
capital  very  considerably."  In  the  fall  of  1832,  instruction  began. 
In  its  initial  stages,  it  had  been  intended  to  establish  a  school  of 
medicine  as  one  of  the  departments  of  the  University,  but  no 
definite  plan  was  prepared  until  1837.  At  several  sessions  of  the 
University  Council  the  question  was  discussed,  and  a  number  of 
names  of  medical  men  whom  it  would  be  advisable  to  appoint  as 
professors  were  presented.  Among  them  those  of  Drs.  Alfred  C. 
Post,  of  New  York,  Johnson,  of  Philadelphia,  Eberle,  of  Cincin- 
nati, N.  R.  Smith,  of  Baltimore,  and  Gunning  S.  Bedford.  Other 
names  suggested  were:  Drs.  Warren,  of  Boston,  surgery;  and 
Martyn  Paine,  theory  and  practice  of  medicine. 

In  December,  1837,  a  committee,  in  a  report  to  the  University 
Council,  made  reference  to  the  medical  course  in  the  French  School 
of  Medicine,  Paris,  where  the  requirements  for  graduation  com- 
prised four  years  as  a  student,  with  two  series  of  lectures  of  five 
months  each;  and  the  committee  stated  their  conviction  that  *'to 
qualify  young  men  for  the  successful  pursuit  of  their  profession, 
they  should  pursue  their  studies  for  a  much  longer  period  than  is 
now  required  by  the  law  of  this,  or  any  other  of  the  States  of  which 
this  committee  have  any  knowledge ; ' '  but  they  feared  that ' '  in  the 
present  state  of  the  law  regulating  the  practice  of  Physic  and 
Surgery"  to  insist  upon  the  full  term  of  four  years  ''would  prove 
fatal  to  the  hopes  and  prospects  of  the  Faculty. ' '  They  therefore 
recommended  that  ''for  the  present,  the  term  be  limited  to  two 
years  and  two  series  of  lectures." 

On  December  6,  1838,  a  faculty  was  elected.  It  was  provided  that 
the  professors  should  hold  their  lectures  at  the  University  build- 
ing, $1,500  to  be  paid  as  rental  for  the  first  year,  and  $2,000  for 
the  second  year,  provided  the  students  numbered  not  more  than 


454 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


one  hundred  and  fifty.  In  a  short  while  the  project  was  tempo- 
rarily abandoned  for  lack  of  means. 

Some  time  later,  efforts  were  made  by  members  of  the  proposed 
faculty  to  negotiate  an  alliance  with  Columbia  College,  the  medical 
school  of  which  had  been  discontinued,  owing  to  the  secession  of 
many  of  its  faculty  of  medicine  to  accept  chairs  in  the  reconstructed 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  But  Columbia  College  de- 
clined, and  the  projectors  endeavored  to  obtain  a  direct  charter 
from  the  State.  The  effort  was  futile,  and  the  promoters  again 
sought  the  aid  of  New  York  University.  In  1841  the  establishment 
was  consummated,  mainly  through  the  efforts  of  Dr.  John  W. 
Draper.  The  medical  faculty  was  elected  by  the  University  Coun- 
cil, and  consisted  of :  Valentine  Mott,  Professor  of  Surgery ;  Gran- 
ville Sharp  Pattison,  Professor  of  Anatomy;  John  Revere,  Pro- 
fessor of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine;  Martyn  Paine, 
Professor  of  the  Institutes  of  Medicine  and  Materia  Medica;  Gun- 
ning S.  Bedford,  Professor  of  Midwifery;  John  W.  Draper,  Pro- 
fessor of  Chemistry,  and  the  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children; 
Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  chancellor  of  the  University,  was 
made  president  of  the  medical  faculty ;  Professor  John  W.  Draper, 
secretary,  and  John  M.  Carnochan,  as  prosector  to  the  Professor 
of  Surgery,  and  John  H.  Whittaker,  as  demonstrator  to  the  Pro- 
fessor of  Anatomy.  The  new  medical  school  was  to  be  self-support- 
ing, yet  the  University  Council  bound  it  by  rigid  regulations ;  one 
clause  of  the  agreement  with  the  medical  faculty  read :  ' '  And  the 
Council  also  hereby  expressly  reserve  the  power  of  repealing  and 
amending  the  plan  of  organization." 

The  first  circular  of  the  Medical  School  emphasized  an  important 
advantage  to  be  derived  by  students  seeking  graduation  at  its 
courses — the  school  was  in  one  respect  free  from  a  hindrance 
under  which  other  medical  colleges  of  the  State  labored,  as  by 
special  legislative  enactment  the  New  York  University  Medical 
College  was  released  from  the  governing  restrictions  of  the  Regents 
of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  to  the  extent  that 
graduates  of  the  New  York  University  Medical  School  could  prac- 
tice medicine  and  surgery  in  the  State  of  New  York  ''without 
receiving  a  license  from  the  State  or  County  Medical  Societies." 
This  possibly  was  a  contributing  factor  to  encourage  a  large 
enrollment  of  students  for  the  first  course  of  lectures.  The  ''First 
Circular"  incorporated  a  list  of  "respectable  boarding  houses" 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  455 


wherein  students  could  find  comfort  at  not  less  than  $2.50  or  more 
than  $3.50  per  week,  and  attracted  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
students  to  its  first  session,  which  was  held  in  the  Stuyvesant  Insti- 
tute, at  659  Broadway,  where  now  the  Broadway  Central  Hotel 
stands,  which  may  explain  why  the  New  York  Lancet  in  that  year 
referred  to  the  New  York  University  Medical  College  as  the  '  *  Stuy- 
vesant Institute  Medical  College, ' '  although  it  has  been  stated  that 
professional  jealousy  instigated  this  less  dignified  designation  of 
the  new  school. 

The  curriculum  was  equal  to  that  of  most  medical  schools  of 
those  early  and  lax  days  of  professional  instruction;  the  main 
essential  to  graduation  was  attendance  at  two  courses  of  lectures 
from  the  end  of  October  to  the  month  of  February.  The  aggregate 
fees  were  $105  yearly.  The  lectures  were  designed  to  be  of  a  dis- 
tinctly popular  character;  Professor  J.  W.  Draper  in  particular 
appears  to  have  distinguished  himself  in  this  respect,  as  a  com- 
mittee of  the  student  body,  in  February,  1842,  tendered  their 
thanks  ''for  the  able  and  interesting  lectures"  delivered  by  him 
during  the  session.  At  the  opening  session.  Prof.  Draper  voiced 
the  opinion  of  the  faculty  thus :  ' '  A  class  that  rivals  in  size  those 
of  the  oldest  and  largest  institutions  has  sprung  into  existence,  and 
been  carried  with  success  through  all  its  evolutions." 

Before  the  close  of  the  first  session,  the  faculty  had  determined 
to  purchase  the  Stuyvesant  Institute  building  in  which  their 
classes  were  held,  and  the  ''Second  Annual  Announcement  and 
Circular"  announced  that  the  Stuyvesant  Institute  building  had 
become  the  property  of  the  college;  that  the  cost  of  its  erection 
had  been  $120,000;  and  that  it  "was  purchased  by  the  Faculty 
at  their  own  cost,  without,  as  yet,  any  aid  from  the  State  or  the 
public." 

The  registers  of  the  Medical  College  record  the  attendances  dur- 
ing the  first  nine  years :  Second  year,  268 ;  third,  323 ;  fourth,  378 ; 
fifth,  407 ;  sixth,  410 ;  seventh,  421 ;  eighth,  411 ;  ninth,  404 ;  figures 
which  assumed  much  importance  and  encouragement,  by  compari- 
son with  the  enrollments  over  the  same  period  by  its  older  neighbor, 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  In  point  of  attendances, 
the  opening  decade  augured  well  for  the  school.  But  financial  diffi- 
culties pressed  heavily;  in  1850  there  seemed  a  possibility,  nay  a 
probability,  that  the  University  would  be  compelled  to  suspend. 
The  University  Council,  on  June  14,  resolved  that  all  members  of 


456 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


the  Council  would  unite  their  efforts  "to  prevent  a  suspension  of 
the  institution."  Again,  the  Medical  College  was  handicapped  by 
the  difficulties  of  the  University,  and  in  danger  of  becoming  sub- 
merged in  its  own  troublous  sea  of  debt.  In  1851  the  debt  on 
the  Stuyvesant  Institute  building  still  stood  at  $47,000,  and  the 
College  had  for  three  years  been  without  the  annual  grant  from 
the  State,  which  previous  to  1848  had  been  of  material  assistance. 
Notwithstanding,  the  medical  faculty  had  been  sufficiently  en- 
couraged to  deem  it  advisable  to  acquire  further  facilities.  The 
demands  of  the  college  had  grown  far  beyond  those  available  at 
the  Stuyvesant  Institute,  therefore,  having  purchased  a  lot  having 
a  frontage  of  116  feet  and  a  depth  of  122i/^  feet,  on  Fourteenth 
street,  the  faculty  resolved  to  dispose  of  the  Stuyvesant  Institute, 
and  erect  a  more  suitable  college  building  on  their  Fourteenth 
street  realty.  The  work  of  building  began  in  April,  1851,  and 
the  students  gathered  in  it  in  October.  The  ground  and  building 
represented  a  liability  of  about  $70,000,  but  the  sale  of  the  Stuy- 
vesant Institute  reduced  the  liability  to  $40,000.  The  college 
now  possessed  a  building  conveniently  located,  containing  two 
museums,  and  three  lecture  halls,  each  capable  of  seating  six  hun- 
dred persons.  Competent  authorities  said  the  new  college  was  "the 
most  complete  medical  college  building  in  the  country." 

Changes  in  the  faculty  were  few  in  the  early  years.  When  a 
vacancy  arose  it  was  necessary,  in  order  to  comply  with  the  require- 
ment of  the  University  Council,  to  "widely  advertise  the  vacancy 
both  in  the  daily  newspapers,  and  in  the  medical  periodicals," 
and  in  due  course  the  medical  faculty  would  nominate  an  applicant 
for  appointment  to  the  vacant  chair  by  the  University  Council. 
In  1850,  Dr.  Derkson,  of  Charleston,  resigning.  Dr.  Detmold  was 
nominated,  and  eventually  confirmed  to  the  chair.  In  September, 
1850,  when  Dr.  Valentine  Mott  resigned,  Samuel  Gross  became 
his  successor,  and  Elihu  Bartlett  was  named  for  the  chair  of  Dr. 
Detmold.  On  September  30,  1851,  by  action  of  the  Council,  the 
teaching  force  was  considerably  augmented,  but  without  increasing 
the  number  of  "governing"  professorships;  Dr.  Charles  A.  Lee 
was  appointed  Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence;  Dr.  B.  W. 
Macready,  Professor  of  Hygiene  and  Toxicology ;  Dr.  T.  M.  Mar- 
koe,  Professor  of  Pathology  and  Microscopic  Anatomy ;  Dr.  W.  H. 
Van  Buren,  Professor  of  Genito-Urinary  Diseases;  and  Dr.  T.  J. 
Metcalf,  Professor  of  Physical  Diagnosis — all  of  which  appoint- 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  457 


ments  were  for  one  year.  On  March  31,  1852,  Dr.  Valentine  Mott, 
then  sixty-seven  years  of  age,  was  made  Emeritus  Professor  of 
Surgery  and  Surgical  Anatomy,  and  Prof.  William  H.  Van  Buren 
was  chosen  for  the  chair  of  General  Descriptive  and  Surgical 
Anatomy.  In  1853,  Dr.  John  A.  Swett,  of  New  York  City,  suc- 
ceeded Dr.  Clymer  as  Professor  of  the  Institutes  and  Practice  of 
Medicine.  In  that  year  the  subject  of  the  graduation  fee,  payable 
by  the  Medical  College  to  the  University,  was  again  broached  by 
the  medical  faculty,  who  a  year  previously  had  proposed  discon- 
tinuing the  payment  of  the  fee  to  the  University,  the  financial 
necessities  of  the  Medical  College  having  become  "particularly 
embarrassing."  A  compromise  was  effected,  but  the  general  pros- 
pects were  far  from  satisfactory.  Maybe  the  withdrawal  of  Dr. 
Valentine  Mott,  then  the  foremost  surgeon  of  the  country,  from 
the  teaching  staff,  detrimentally  affected  the  enrollments,  which 
from  404  students  in  1849-50,  had  dwindled  to  290  in  1852-53. 

A  most  important  distinction  was  earned  for  the  institution  by 
the  college  faculty  in  1854 ;  to  them  belongs  the  honor  of  procuring 
the  abrogation  of  the  law  which  for  so  many  years  had  rendered 
the  research  of  the  anatomical  student  difficult,  embarrassing,  and 
in  some  respects  illegal.  This  matter  has  been  sufficiently  treated 
on  otlier  pages.  In  1853,  Dr.  J.  W.  Draper  strengthened  the  "Pe- 
tition of  the  Medical  Faculty  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  to  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  Assembly  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  for  the  State  of  New  York,  for  the  Legalization  of 
Anatomy,"  by  an  admirable  introductory  lecture.  Eventually, 
mainly  as  the  result  of  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Martyn  Paine,  who  re- 
mained in  Albany  prosecuting  the  endeavor  for  three  months,  the 
law,  commonly  designated  "The  Bone  Bill,"  was  passed. 

With  the  opening  of  the  Civil  War,  the  college  entered  upon  a 
period  of  extreme  leanness;  in  the  spring  of  1862  there  were  but 
186  students,  less  than  half  the  enrollment  for  1859-60,  when  411 
students  attended  lectures.  The  session  of  1863-64  was  attended  by 
192,  the  next  by  211,  and  the  year  1865-66  by  only  292.  This 
period  of  depression  threatened  serious  consequences  to  the  college, 
the  income  of  which  was  lessened  by  many  thousands  of  dollars. 
The  faculty,  always  optimistic,  looked  upon  the  increase  of  eighty- 
one  students  in  1865-66  as  a  true  indication  of  future  prosperity, 
aod  stated  that  the  school 's  ' '  prospects  were  at  no  time  brighter. ' ' 
It  was  claimed  for  the  college  that  "in  professional  position  it 


458 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


ranked  among  the  first  American  colleges ; "  its  diploma  was  recog- 
nized in  England ;  in  fact,  many  of  its  graduates  were  at  that  time 
''practising  in  that  country,"  and  many  of  its  professors  were 
"widely  known  in  Europe,  and  were  regarded  as  authorities  by 
foreign  countries." 

On  the  night  of  Monday,  May  21st,  1866,  fire  destroyed  the 
Academy  of  Music  on  Fourteenth  street,  and  also  the  New  York 
University  Medical  College  building,  immediately  eastward.  The 
whole  of  the  apparatus  of  the  college  was  destroyed,  including  the 
' '  anatomical,  surgical,  and  obstetrical  museum ;  the  chemical  appa- 
ratus, and  the  recently  established  chemical  laboratory ;  the  collec- 
tion of  drugs  and  other  objects  of  materia  medica,  surgery,  the 
practice  of  medicine,  etc.    The  loss  in  the  chemical  museum  alone 
was  rated  at  $15,000,  and  although  at  that  time  the  only  debt  of 
the  college  was  a  mortgage  of  $15,000,  and  the  property  was  cov- 
ered by  insurance  to  the  extent  of  $25,000,  the  fire  entailed  a  very 
considerable  loss.   No  time  was  lost  in  making  temporary  disposi- 
tions so  as  to  prevent  a  suspension.    Prof.  Gouley's  clinics  were 
held  in  Bellevue  Hospital.    For  many  reasons  it  was  resolved  not 
to  build  on  the  Fourteenth  street  site,  an  important  consideration 
being  the  cost  of  living  to  the  student.    Fourteenth  street  had 
become  more  fashionable,  and  the  rates  for  board  and  lodging  in 
the  vicinity  had  in  some  cases  reached  $11  per  week,  whereas  Belle- 
vue Hospital  Medical  College  was  in  a  position  to  announce  in  its 
annual  circular  that  good  board  and  lodging  in  the  vicinity  of 
Bellevue  Hospital,  First  avenue  and  Twenty-sixth  street,  was 
obtainable  at  $3.00  to  $5.00  weekly.    Again,  students  were  com- 
pelled to  attend  the  Bellevue  Hospital  for  all  clinical  instruction ; 
therefore,  the  medical  faculty  recommended  that  the  new  college 
building  be  erected  ' '  as  close  as  possible  to  Bellevue  Hospital, ' '  and 
suggested  that  the  University  Council  appeal  to  the  public  for 
necessary  funds.    These,  however,  were  not  immediately  forthcom- 
ing, and  for  three  years  the  college  was  destined  to  be  located  even 
farther  southward  of  Bellevue  Hospital.    As  a  temporary  expe- 
dient, college  sessions  were  held  in  a  building  of  the  old  New  York 
Hospital,  Broadway  and  Church  street.    To  an  extent,  the  college 
benefited,  its  close  proximity  to  a  large  hospital  being  a  distinct 
advantage  to  the  students,  who  thereby  obtained  clinical  observa- 
tion of  more  than  fifteen  hundred  surgical  cases.    The  New  York 
Hospital  building  was  occupied  until  1869.    From  1869  onward, 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  459 


the  college  was  located  on  East  Twenty-sixth  street,  near  East 
River,  opposite  the  gate  of  Bellevue  Hospital,  the  course  being 
partly  given  in  the  college  building,  and  partly  in  the  amphithe- 
atres and  wards  of  Bellevue,  Charity,  and  Manhattan  Eye  and 
Ear  hospitals. 

Shortly  before  the  fire,  Dr.  John  T.  Metcalfe,  Professor  of  the 
Institutes  and  Practice  of  Medicine,  resigned  and  joined  the  fac- 
ulty of  the  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College ;  and  Dr.  Van  Buren, 
Professor  of  Anatomy,  went  over  to  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons.  Alfred  L.  Loomis  and  William  Darling,  respectively, 
were  appointed  to  the  vacated  chairs. 

In  1872,  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  New  York  University  to 
bring  the  Medical  College  into  closer  relation  with  the  parent 
body,  and  in  November  Dr.  D.  B.  St.  John  Roosa  was  elected  to  the 
University  Council.  He,  with  the  Chancellor  and  the  University 
Secretary,  constituted  a  committee  on  the  medical  department,  but 
the  attempt  does  not  appear  to  have  been  productive  of  important 
results.  Whether  the  endeavor  to  bring  about  a  closer  union  had 
reference  in  any  way  to  the  financial  condition  of  the  professional 
school  is  not  clear,  but  certainly  at  that  time  the  medical  college 
was  seriously  involved  financially.  In  December,  1872,  the  Alumni 
Association  of  the  Medical  College  adopted  resolutions,  seeking 
the  collection  of  the  sum  of  $200,000,  *'to  be  used  by  the  Council 
for  the  general  endowment  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
University."  The  project  failed,  and  within  a  year  the  medical 
faculty  were  embarrassed  by  the  pressing  liabilities  incurred  in 
the  renting  of  their  premises  at  East  Twenty-sixth  street,  which 
building  they  had  leased  at  an  annual  rental  of  $5,000. 

At  that  time  of  serious  moment  to  the  institution,  it  suffered 
possibly  the  most  serious  faculty  loss  of  its  history.  The  name  of 
Draper  had  been  synonymous  with  the  highest  standard  of  medical 
and  scientific  instruction,  and  from  the  inception  of  the  college, 
the  name  had  always  been  identified  with  it;  Professor  J.  W. 
Draper,  as  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Physiology,  and  later  as 
Emeritus  Professor  of  the  department  and  president  of  the  col- 
lege, had  added  dignity  and  prestige  to  the  institution;  his  son. 
Dr.  Henry  Draper,  who  succeeded  him  to  the  chair  of  physiology, 
had  proved  to  be  even  more  brilliant  than  his  father,  scientifically. 
And  when  they  simultaneously  resigned  their  appointments  and 
offices,  and  at  a  moment  when  the  college  was  passing  through  a 


460 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


period  of  much  perplexity,  the  institution's  loss  was  accentuated. 
However,  the  school  had  established  too  substantial  a  reputation 
to  be  in  danger  of  permanent  disablement  by  financial  or  other 
misfortunes,  and  although  the  financial  need  remained  pressing 
for  some  years,  temporary  expedients  carried  the  institution  for- 
ward to  better  times. 

In  1875,  at  the  recommendation  of  the  medical  faculty,  the 
University  Council  substituted  the  title  of  *'dean"  for  the  desig- 
nation ''president,"  under  which  the  chief  executive  ofiicer  of  the 
medical  school  formerly  was  known,  and  the  then  registrar,  Dr. 
Charles  Inslee  Pardee,  became  the  first  incumbent  of  the  office. 
Under  his  administration  the  institution  developed ;  the  spring  of 
1876  saw  the  completion  of  the  new  Medical  College  building,  which 
stood  on  a  lot  70  feet  by  98  feet,  on  East  Twenty -sixth  street.  In 
that  year  the  graduates  numbered  116,  and  altogether  480  students 
had  attended  the  lectures  of  that  session,  the  figures  being  the 
highest  reached  since  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War. 

The  erection  of  the  college  building  was  made  possible  by  the 
financial  co-operation  of  the  faculty  of  the  medical  department. 
In  a  proposition  placed  by  them  before  the  Council  of  the  Uni- 
versity, it  was  stated  that  they  had  subscribed  $12,500  cash,  which 
they  were  prepared  to  donate  to  the  University,  provided  the  addi- 
tional $75,000  be  raised  by  subscription,  so  as  to  free  the  ]\Iedical 
College  of  debt;  or  that,  as  an  alternative,  $40,000  be  raised  by 
subscription  and  the  remaining  $35,000  be  assumed  by  the  Uni- 
versity on  mortgage.  A  determined  effort  was  instituted  by  the 
University  Council  to  meet  the  requirements,  but  not  more  than 
$20,000  could  be  secured.  Consequently,  the  opportunity  presented 
to  the  University  of  acquiring  supreme  jurisdiction  over  the  Med- 
ical College  could  not  be  grasped,  and  the  medical  faculty,  who  in 
fact  constituted  in  themselves  the  ''corporation  of  o^vners, "  con- 
tinued in  control.  To  meet  the  financial  situation,  a  corporation 
had  been  formed  in  1870,  under  the  designation  of  the  "Loomis 
Medical  Laboratory, ' '  and  those  of  the  faculty  who  had  subscribed 
amounts  to  the  institution  received  scrip  of  the  corporation  to 
the  value  of  their  payments.  The  $20,000  fund  raised  was  used  to 
liquidate  that  amount  of  the  Medical  College  debt,  and  the  deficit 
was  raised  among  the  faculty,  and  loaned  the  institution,  for  which 
loans  they  received  stock  certificates.  In  this  manner,  the  faculty 
became  more  definitely  the  "governing"  body,  and  many  years 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  461 


later  the  Chancellor  of  the  University,  reviewing  the  circumstances 
contributory  to  a  serious  dissension  that  had  arisen  between  the 
college  and  the  University,  stated  the  peculiar  relationship  of  the 
two  bodies  thus:  *'The  chief  duties  of  the  executive  officer  (the 
university  chancellor),  in  his  relation  to  the  Medical  School,  were 
the  signing  of  diplomas,  the  presiding  at  Commencements,  the  par- 
ticipation, by  invitation,  in  serious  cases  of  discipline,  and  the 
supervision  of  the  annual  announcements." 

The  members  of  the  faculty  of  the  Medical  College  in  that  year 
were:  Chas.  A.  Budd,  Obstetrics;  J.  C.  Draper,  Chemistry;  A.  L. 
Loomis,  Pathology  and  Practice  of  Medicine;  William  Darling, 
Anatomy;  Wm.  H.  Thomson,  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics; 
T.  W.  S.  Arnold,  Physiology  and  Histology;  John  T.  Darby,  Sur- 
gery; C.  I.  Pardee,  Diseases  of  the  Ear;  Erskine  Mason,  Clinical 
Surgery. 

In  1877  further  endeavors  were  made  by  the  medical  faculty  to 
secure  a  reduction  and  a  remittance  of  graduation  fees  payable 
by  the  graduating  students  of  the  Medical  School  to  the  University. 
Chancellor  Crosby,  of  the  University,  made  reference  to  it  on 
April  5,  1877,  when  he  and  the  University  Council  were  engrossed 
in  the  consideration  of  another  matter  of  vital  import  to  the 
University.  Financial  difficulties  so  heavily  weighted  the  Univer- 
sity, that  the  Council  seriously  thought  of  suspending  the  academic 
department,  and  accumulate  the  income  from  its  existing  endow- 
ments, keeping  in  full  operation  the  schools  of  medicine  and  law; 
the  plan  to  hold  until  the  institution  had  accumulated  from  its 
unused  endowment  income,  or  by  the  raising  of  a  public  fund, 
sufficient  to  enable  the  academic  department  to  be  reopened.  Chan- 
cellor Crosby  favored  the  plan,  and  desired  the  resources  of  the 
University  to  be  used  to  foster  and  strengthen  the  two  most  vigor- 
ous departments — the  schools  of  medicine  and  law.  The  faculty 
of  the  academic  department,  however,  strenuously  opposed  the  sug- 
gested suspension,  and  themselves  undertook  to  risk  personal  finan- 
cial loss  by  its  continuance ;  they  promised  to  accept  as  salary  any 
surplus  remaining  out  of  the  year's  revenue  of  their  department 
after  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  building  had  been  met.  In  that 
way,  the  affairs  of  the  University  continued  to  drift  for  some  years. 

In  the  general  University  financial  interregnum,  the  medical 
faculty  had  also  been  compelled  to  face  urgent  and  serious  financial 
liabilities,  and  in  their  involved  state,  their  long-standing  ' '  gradua- 


462 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


tion  fee"  grievance  against  the  University  assumed  magnitude,  and 
so  they  had  felt  in  regard  to  the  ' '  tax, ' '  when  they  had  addressed  to 
Chancellor  Crosby  a  request  for  its  absolute  remittance.  Owing  to 
the  other  matters,  already  referred  to,  of  more  serious  consequence 
then  before  them,  the  University  Council  did  not  then  reach  a  de- 
cision in  respect  to  the  ''graduation  fee"  liability  of  the  Medical 
College  to  the  parent  institution,  but  in  the  following  February  a 
resolution  was  passed  ''that  the  Medical  Department  be  hereafter 
placed  on  the  same  footing  with  the  other  departments  of  the 
University,  in  respect  to  the  payment  of  diploma  fees." 

Regarding  the  proposition  of  the  medical  faculty  that  the  Uni- 
versity assume  the  whole  financial  liability  of  the  college,  in  respect 
to  the  new  college  building,  the  University  financial  survey  of 
October,  1877,  makes  note  of  the  matter,  the  record  stating  that 
the  medical  faculty  asserted  that  the  apparatus,  museums,  etc., 
destroyed  in  1866,  had  been  replaced ;  that  the  new  medical  build- 
ing had  involved  an  expenditure  of  $134,200.38,  to  meet  which  the 
faculty  had  had  funds  amounting  in  all  to  $39,500,  of  which  $20,000 
was  obtained  by  the  sale  of  the  old  building,  and  $19,500  by  sub- 
scription; that  $94,720.38  had  to  be  carried  by  mortgage,  or  by 
floating  debt;  that  by  incurring  the  debt,  the  faculty  had  been 
enabled  "to  sustain  the  honor  of  the  University,  and  to  give  to 
its  medical  department  this  year  (1877)  the  largest  class  ever 
graduated  by  the  University,  and  the  largest  but  one  graduated 
in  the  United  States." 

During  the  financial  troubles  of  the  University,  an  attempt  was 
made  to  divert  the  assets  of  the  Undergraduate  College  to  the 
Post-Graduate  School  of  Medicine,  which  had  been  organized  a  few 
years  previously.  The  ' '  History  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
University  of  the  City  of  New  York,"  published  in  October,  1890, 
by  the  Alumni  Association,  makes  the  following  reference  to  the 
Post-Graduate  School: 

After  seven  years  of  existence,  this  Post-Graduate  Course  was  abolished. 
Tre  Supplementary  Faculty,"  as  tb  professors  giving  instruction  in  this 
course  were  styled  to  distinguish  them  from  the  Governing  Faculty  of  the 
College,  desired  to  be  allowed  to  grant  degrees,  instead  of  certificates,  and 
they  also  desired  to  have  a  system  of  separate  fees,  separate  lecture  halls, 
etc.,  and  to  be  allowed  a  share  in  the  general  government  of  the  College. 
Upon  due  consideration  by  the  Governing  Faculty,  it  was  decided  that 
these  proposals  would  not  accord  with  the  policy  of  the  College,  and  it  was 
therefore  deemed  for  the  best  interest  of  the  institution  to  accept  the  resig- 


NEW  YORK  UNIVEESITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  463 


nations  which  were  tendered  by  a  majority  of  the  Post-Graduate  profes- 
sors, who  seceded  in  April,  1882. 

Meanwhile,  the  Medical  College  continued  to  progress;  its  at- 
tendances increased  each  year;  in  the  session  1878-79,  the  enroll- 
ments of  medical  students  were  556 ;  in  1879-80,  609 ;  in  1880-81, 
623.  At  the  end  of  the  winter  term  of  1882,  213  medical  graduates 
received  diplomas,  a  record  of  which  the  college  was  proud,  al- 
though at  that  time  the  course  for  graduation  extended  only  over 
two  sessions  of  lectures,  each  less  than  six  months. 

In  1883,  the  Medical  College  Laboratory,  a  corporation,  received 
a  charter  from  the  State.  Its  organizers  were  eight  professors  of 
the  University  Medical  College,  and  its  organization  was  an  attempt 
by  the  governing  faculty  of  the  medical  school  to  straighten  the 
financial  affairs  of  the  institution,  of  which  the  eight  professors 
of  medicine  were  the  principal  creditors,  they  having  loaned  con- 
siderable sums  of  money  to  the  College.  The  Chancellor  of  the 
University,  in  a  report  (1885-1891)  states  that  the  eight  professors 
held  the  grounds  and  the  building  used  for  instruction  as  private 
shareholders,  ''but  with  public  spirit,"  and  that  the  individual 
proprietorship  of  the  Medical  College  continued  until  1891. 

Probably,  the  professor  with  most  power  over  the  affairs  of  the 
Medical  College  during  the  seventies  and  eighties  was  Dr.  Alfred 
L.  Loomis;  the  institution  was  heavily  indebted  to  him;  and  his 
prestige  became  even  greater  when,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Loomis 
Medical  Laboratory  on  March  23,  1887,  he  announced  that :  ' '  About 
one  year  ago  a  gentleman  gave  me  power  of  attorney  to  spend 
$100,000  for  him,  in  the  erection  and  equipment  of  a  laboratory 
building,  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  Faculty  and  students  of  the 
Medical  Department  of  New  York  University."  This  gift  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  governing  faculty  of  the  Medical  School  even 
greater  power,  and  made  them  even  less  amenable  to  approaches 
by  the  University  having  as  motive  the  strengthening  of  the  union 
between  the  two  bodies.  The  University  was  gaining  strength  and, 
jealously  guarding  its  reputation  as  an  institution  of  learning  in 
which  was  no  semblance  of  commercialism,  it  desired  to  exert  a 
stronger  supervision  over  the  affairs  of  the  Medical  College  which 
bore  its  name.  Certain  gifts  had  from  time  to  time  been  made  to 
the  Medical  Faculty  for  the  exclusive  purposes  of  the  Medical 
College,  and  further  sums  had  been  solicited  by  the  University 


464 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Council,  and  received  by  them  on  behalf  of  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment, and  funds  had  also  been  raised  by  public  subscription  in  the 
name  of  the  University,  and  allotted  to  the  needs  of  the  Medical 
College,  so  that  the  relationship  though  certain,  fundamentally 
became  indefinite,  and  the  medical  faculty  remained  virtually  in 
complete  control.  The  situation  was  in  this  respect  not  clarified 
by  a  happening  in  1892,  which  in  itself  had  an  important  bearing 
on  the  future  prosperity  of  the  College.  At  that  time,  the  institu- 
tion was  very  heavily  indebted  to  Dr.  Loomis,  the  senior  professor, 
and  Mr.  0.  H.  Payne,  a  patient  of  his,  resolved  to  free  the  institu- 
tion from  debt.  He  did  so,  and  thus  the  shareholding  by  professors 
was  automatically  extinguished;  but  instead  of  placing  the  prop- 
erty under  University  ownership,  Mr.  Payne  arranged  that  it  should 
still  be  under  the  direction  of  the  "Loomis  Medical  Laboratory," 
a  corporation  established  in  1870,  as  hereinbefore  described.  This 
introduced  an  outside  element  having  no  connection  with  New 
York  University,  and  the  administration  of  the  Medical  College 
became  even  more  hampered.  The  Chancellor's  report  commented 
upon  the  condition  thus :  ' '  The  Medical  College  nevertheless  still 
remained  under  cumbrous  management.  It  was  related  to  no  less 
than  four  corporations — the  New  York  University,  the  Loomis 
Medical  Laboratory,  the  Medical  College  Laboratory,  and  the  Med- 
ical College  Dispensary."  The  result  was  detrimental  to  the  col- 
lege, and  its  effect  became  evident  during  the  next  few  years,  though 
the  decreased  enrollment  cannot  be  wholly  or  even  chiefly  attributed 
to  this  involved  condition  of  government,  although  the  college 
did  not  progress  in  the  ratio  of  other  professional  schools,  notably 
Harvard  and  Pennsylvania  Medical  Schools,  which  had  been 
placed  unreservedly  under  the  University  system.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  New  York  University  declined  both  in  enrollments,  and  in 
educational  standard.  The  decreased  enrollment  may  be  attributed 
to  the  adoption  in  that  year  of  a  three-year  course,  and  the  exten- 
sion of  the  regular  session  to  seven  months ;  but  the  deterioration  in 
the  standard  of  instruction  may  be  presumed  to  have  been  caused 
by  the  lack  of  untrammelled  authoritative  government.  This  low- 
ering of  educational  standard  became  publicly  evident  in  the  re- 
ports of  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
in  which  were  recorded  their  examinations  of  medical  graduates 
applying  for  license  to  practise  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Of  the 
twelve  medical  schools  of  the  State,  the  reports  during  the  years 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  465 


1891-95  placed  the  University  Medical  College  eleventh,  and  in 
1896,  last.  The  extent  to  which  the  enrollment  was  affected  by 
the  adoption  of  the  three-year  course  is  clear  from  the  following 
statistics:  Matriculants  of  1890-91,  696;  1892-93,  460;  1893-94, 
362 ;  and  the  two  succeeding  years  each  enrolled  376  students. 

In  1895,  a  gloom  was  cast  over  the  Medical  College  by  the  death 
of  Dr.  Alfred  L.  Loomis.  From  point  of  excellence  as  an  educator, 
and  by  reason  of  his  incessant  labors  to  effect  the  freeing  of  the 
institution  from  debt,  he  had  merited  his  place  at  the  head  of  the 
College.  At  the  memorial  service  held  on  May  2,  1895,  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  University  paid  just  tribute  to  the  deceased  profes- 
sor's endeavors  and  achievements  in  respect  to  the  College,  saying 
'*He  had  led  the  Medical  School  out  into  a  large  place;  virtually 
a  second  foundation  of  our  College  of  Medicine  was  accomplished 
in  five  years,  1887-1892." 

Following  the  death  of  Dr.  Loomis,  serious  dissension  arose 
among  the  medical  faculty  in  respect  to  the  deanship,  and  the 
friction  continued  long  after  the  appointment  of  Prof.  Le  Fevre, 
as  acting  dean.  It  resulted  in  the  University  Council  assuming 
direct  control  of  the  Medical  College,  March  1,  1897,  when  the 
University  accepted  the  formal  transfer  of  the  property  of  the 
Loomis  Medical  Laboratory  to  it. 

In  the  winter  of  1896-97  the  college  had  adopted  even  more 
stringent  requirements  for  graduation,  necessitating  attendance  at 
lectures  for  four  years.  The  length  of  each  session  was  also  ex- 
tended, and  consequently  the  enrollment  of  the  opening  session 
was  disappointing,  so  that  it  was  an  opportune  moment  in  which 
to  inaugurate  a  change  of  administration.  Immediately  after  the 
University  became  possessed  of  full  authority  over  the  Medical 
College,  the  University  Council  organized  a  medical  college  com- 
mittee, empowered  with  jurisdiction  over  the  general  affairs  of  the 
department.  The  committee  almost  immediately  ran  counter  to 
the  eight  governing  professors.  '  At  that  time  occurred  the  partial 
destruction  by  fire  of  the  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College,  almost 
immediately  opposite  the  University  Medical  College.  The  occur- 
rence suggested  the  merger  of  the  two  colleges,  and  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  the  Chancellor  of  New  York  University,  one  of  the  members 
of  the  Medical  College  committee,  Dr.  J.  P.  Mann,  an  alumnus  of 
Bellevue,  was  deputed  to  broach  the  subject  to  the  faculty  of  Belle- 
vue Hospital  Medical  College.    Exchanges  of  opinions  eventually 


466 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


led  the  University  Council,  on  March  18,  1897,  to  formally  invite 
the  Bellevue  College  to  join  the  New  York  University,  by  merging 
its  professional  school  in  that  of  the  University.    The  invitation 
was  unanimously  accepted,  and  the  faculties  of  both  schools  of 
medicine  placed  their  resignations  in  the  hands  of  the  Chancellor 
of  the  University,  so  as  to  facilitate  the  consolidation.  Thereupon, 
the  Medical  College  committee,  on  behalf  of  the  University,  selected 
a  faculty  for  the  joint  college  from  the  old  faculties  of  the  two 
schools.    The  selections  brought  strong  remonstrance  from  the 
Bellevue  authorities,  and  a  request  to  the  University  Council  for  a 
revision  of  the  assignments,  which,  of  seven  chairs,  provided  only 
one  chair  for  Bellevue,  four  to  professors  of  the  University  College, 
dividing  the  remaining  two.     Dissatisfaction  was  also  present 
among  the  professors  of  the  University  College,  who  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Medical  College  committee  had  been  shorn  of  much  of 
their  authority,  and  for  some  time  it  appeared  that  the  improba- 
bility of  permanent  reconciliation  of  the  dissentients  would  neces- 
sitate the  abrogation  of  the  union  of  the  two  schools,  and  that  both 
would  revert  to  their  previous  state.    However,  the  Chancellor 
and  members  of  the  University  Council  were  particularly  desirous 
of  effecting  the  amalgamation,  and  recognized  that  fairness,  impar- 
tiality, and  faithfulness  to  the  highest  ideals  of  the  important 
trust  reposed  in  them,  were  the  essential  factors  to  consummate 
the  union  in  harmonious  permanence  and  effectiveness.  Their  rul- 
ings, however,  failed  to  satisfy  certain  members  of  the  teaching 
staff  of  the  University  Medical  College,  who  thereupon  entered  into 
negotiation  with  Cornell  University,  seeking  to  establish  in  New 
York  City  a  medical  department  of  that  University,  with  them- 
selves as  members  of  the  faculty.   In  their  designs  they  were  suc- 
cessful, and  the  announcement  of  their  displacement  and  subse- 
quent endeavors  was  made  by  the  Chancellor  of  New  York  Uni- 
versity at  the  Commencement,  held  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera 
House  on  May  19,  1898.   The  Chancellor  regretted  that  ''by  reason 
of  the  failure  of  some  of  our  professors  of  medicine,  since  May 
26,  1897,  to  observe  the  duties  belonging  to  their  relation  to  us 
under  the  University  system  ...  we  were  constrained  to  condition 
their  continuance  as  permanent  professors  upon  their  acceptance 
of  existing  University  rules  and  requirements. "  The  six  professors 
were  consequently  displaced,  and  as  a  result,  concluded  negotia- 
tions with  Cornell.    The  Chancellor  further  announced  that  "the 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  467 


trustees  of  the  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College  have  to-day- 
ruled  to  complete  the  consolidation  of  that  College  with  New- 
York  University,  under  the  title  of  'The  University  and  Bellevue 
Hospital  Medical  College.'  .  .  .  The  alumni  of  the  two  schools, 
representing  nearly  ten  thousand  graduates,  will  be  placed  on  the 
rolls  of  the  University." 

This  auspicious  announcement  of  the  amalgamation  of  the  two 
schools  was  such  as  to  have  merited  the  occasion  being  made  one 
of  enthusiastic  gratulations ;  the  occasion  was,  however,  marred  by 
the  preceding  announcement,  recounting  the  actions  of  the  dissen- 
tient University  College  professors.  Under  the  agreement  of 
amalgamation,  the  two  college  properties,  rated  at  $500,000,  were 
to  become  the  property  of  the  University,  and  be  used  by  the  united 
school.  It  was  announced  that  Dr.  Edward  G.  Janeway,  dean,  and 
seven  professors  of  the  former  University  Medical  College  faculty, 
and  twenty-one  professors  and  adjunct  professors  of  the  former 
Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College,  ''together  with  such  additional 
professors  as  may  hereafter  be  appointed,"  would  constitute  the 
faculty  of  the  combined  school. 

The  opening  of  the  combined  College,  October  1,  1898,  was  fol- 
lowed by  litigation,  the  former  trustees  of  the  University  Medical 
College  demanding  the  return  of  its  property,  as  having  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  University  by  them  under  promises  to  which  the 
University  had  failed  to  adhere.  The  University  Council  resisted 
the  suit,  and  litigation  somewhat  discounted  the  otherwise  encour- 
aging opening  years  of  the  consolidated  school. 

The  "Announcement  of  the  University  and  Bellevue  Hospital 
Medical  College"  for  its  first  session,  1898-1899,  stated  the  union 
to  have  been  "the  result  of  a  conviction  of  the  members  of  the 
Council  of  the  New  York  University  and  the  Faculty  and  Trustees 
of  Bellevue  Hospital  .  .  .  that  the  standards  of  higher  medical 
education  would  be  thus  best  maintained  and  advanced."  The 
plan  of  instruction  provided  for  a  four-year  course,  and  a  curricu- 
lum similar  to  that  which  had  obt^iined  in  the  previous  year,  al- 
though some  minor  changes  consequent  upon  the  methods  of  indi- 
vidual professors  were  effected.  The  fees  for  the  combined  four- 
year  course  were  to  total  $700.  Four  hundred  and  forty-two  stu- 
dents gathered  in  the  new  college  building  of  Bellevue  Hospital 
for  the  session  which  opened  on  October  1,  1898.  The  main  lec- 
tures of  the  session  were  held  in  that  building,  which  had  been 


468 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


erected  in  1897  by  Bellevue.  The  five-story  Carnegie  Laboratory, 
belonging  to  Bellevue  and  adjoining  the  college  building,  also  added 
further  excellent  facilities  for  instruction  and  research.  The  fac- 
ulty of  the  combined  school  for  the  first  joint  session,  1898-99,  con- 
sisted of : 

Lewis  A.  Sayre,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Orthopedia  and  Clinical  Surgery; 
Ed.  G.  Janeway,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Medicine,  and  Dean,  with  A.  H. 
McAlpin,  Jr.,  Chief  of  Clinic ;  A.  Alex.  Smith,  Professor  of  the  Principles 
and  Practice  of  Medicine,  and  Clinical  Medicine,  with  R.  J.  Carlisle,  Chief 
of  Clinic;  Hermann  M.  Biggs,  Professor  of  Principles  and  Practice  of 
Surgery,  and  Adjunct  Professor  of  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine; 
also  Secretary  of  Faculty,  with  J.  H.  Huddleston,  Chief  of  Clinic ;  Joseph 
D.  Bryant,  Professor  of  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery,  Operative 
and  Clinical  Surgery,  with  Wm.  C.  Lusk,  Chief  of  Clinics;  Austin  Flint, 
Jr.,  Professor  of  Obstetrics,  and  Clinical  Professor  of  Gynecology;  George 
D.  Stewart,  Professor  of  Anatomy;  Egbert  Le  Fevre,  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary, and  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine,  and  Associate  Professor  of 
Therapeutics,  with  Samuel  A.  Brown,  Chief  of  Clinic,  Graham  Lusk, 
Professor  of  General  Pathology,  Bacteriology,  and  Hygiene;  Henry  C. 
Coe,  Professor  of  Gynecology,  with  Wm.  E.  Studdiford,  Chief  of  Clinics; 
L.  Bolton  Bang-s,  Professor  of  Genito-Urinaiy  Surgery;  B.  Farquhar 
Curtis,  Adjunct  Professor  of  the  Principles  of  Surgery,  and  Professor  of 
Clinical  Surgery;  Henry  D.  Noyes,  Professor  of  Ophthalmology;  Henry  G. 
Piffard,  Professor  of  Dermatology^;  Prince  A.  Morrow,  Professor  Genito- 
urinary Diseases;  Ed.  D.  Fisher,  Professor  of  Diseases  of  the  Nervous 
System,  with  F.  A.  Scratchley,  Chief  of  Clinics;  Francke  H.  Bosworth, 
Professor  of  Diseases  of  the  Throat;  Beverley  Robinson,  Clinical  Professor 
of  Medicine;  Wm.  P.  Northup,  Professor  of  Pediatrics,  with  R.  G.  Free- 
man, Chief  of  Clinics;  Alexander  E.  Macdonald,  Professor  of  Mental 
Diseases  and  Medical  Jurisprudence;  Christian  A.  Herter,  Professor  of 
Pathological  Chemistiy;  John  A.  Fordyce,  Professor  of  Dermatology; 
Henry  H.  Rusby,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica,  and  Pharmacology;  D.  H. 
McAlpin,  Jr.,  Professor  of  Gross  Pathology,  and  Clinical  Registrar;  J.  A. 
Mandel,  Professor  of  Inorganic  Chemistry  and  Physiology,  and  Adjunct 
Professor  of  Physiological  Chemistry;  Ed.  B.  Dench,  Professor  of  Otol- 
ogy; Willis  E.  Ford,  Professor  of  Electro-Therapeutics;  Chas.  E.  Quimby, 
Clinical  Professor  of  Medicine;  Wm.  H.  Park,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Bac- 
teriology and  Hygiene ;  John  F.  Erdmann,  Professor  of  Practical  Anatomy, 
and  Chnical  Professor  of  Surgery;  Cornelius  G.  Coakley,  Clinical  Pro- 
fessor of  Laryngology;  Reg.  H.  Sayre,  Clinical  Professor  of  Orthopedic 
Surgery;  Jasper  J.  Garmany,  Clinical  Professor  of  Surgery  and  Demon- 
strator of  Operative  Surgery;  Henry  M.  Silver,  Clinical  Professor  of 
Surgery;  Parker  Syms,  Clinical  Professor  of  Surgery. 

Lecturers:  J.  E.  Weeks,  G.  P.  Biggs,  A.  H.  Doty,  J.  A.  McCreery,  J.  E. 
Stubbert,  Chas.  H.  Lewis,  Ramon  Guiteras.  Instructor:  J.  Van  Der  Poel, 
R.  C.  James,  H.  S.  Stearns,  T.  C.  Janeway,  H.  H.  Brooks,  S.  A.  Brown, 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  469 


J.  S.  Billings,  T.  Dunham,  W.  L.  Stowell.  Assistants :  W.  Ayers,  P.  S. 
Boynton,  A.  H.  Anderson,  H.  F.  Quackenbos,  W.  N.  Berkeley,  J.  H. 
Huber,  A.  W.  Ferris,  A.  R.  Guerard,  W.  J.  Pulley,  C.  B.  Slade,  0.  D.  F. 
Robertson,  A.  Me.  L.  Jeffrey,  M.  F.  L.  Crowley,  H.  L.  Winter,  W.S.  Adams, 
L.  T.  Lewald,  C.  Phillips,  Eben.  Fosket,  E.  M.  Evans,  Geo.  L.  Brodhead, 
H.  A.  Purdy,  D.  Bovaird,  0.  H.  Holder,  D.  W.  Hunter,  J.  F.  McKiernon, 
W.  J.  Furness,  E.  H.  Griffin,  S.  Oppenheimer,  W.  B.  Trimble,  C.  M.  Ford, 
J.  Wohlforth,  F.  A.  Seratchley,  F.  W.  Shipman,  M.  B.  Parounagian,  J.  A. 
Bodine,  N.  A.  Haubold  and  J.  V.  Standish. 

The  operation  of  the  consolidated  school  proceeded  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  University  and  the  faculty.  Many  improvements 
were  initiated,  and  the  announcement  for  the  year  1900-01  stated : 
During  the  two  years  that  the  combined  colleges  have  existed 
as  an  integral  part  of  the  University,  the  expectations  of  the  Uni- 
versity have  been  more  than  realized."  The  increasing  severity 
of  the  medical  course,  however,  exercised  considerable  effect  on  the 
enrollments,  although  the  decreased  attendances  at  classes  did  not 
exercise  the  depressing  effect  such  a  condition  would  otherwise 
cause,  because  it  was  well  known  that  all  other  medical  schools  of 
the  State  suffered  a  similar  shrinkage.  Nevertheless,  the  decrease 
was  so  considerable  as  to  give  the  administration  periods  of  per- 
plexity, as  to  the  ultimate  outcome.  The  combined  matriculants 
of  the  two  colleges  for  the  session  1897-98  numbered  738;  the 
matriculants  of  the  session  1903-04  totaled  only  311.  In  1899,  the 
faculty  were  urged  by  a  portion  of  the  class  of  1901  to  grant  them 
their  degree  in  the  year  1900,  but  declined  to  thus  lower  their 
advertised  standard.  They  held  firmly  to  the  four-year  course,  by 
which  strict  adherence  the  institution  lost  a  number  of  students 
and  several  thousands  of  dollars  in  fees. 

Notwithstanding  this  additional  facility,  however,  it  was  found 
that  the  space  at  the  disposal  of  the  college  was  less  than  the  re- 
quirements ;  in  fact,  in  the  following  year,  when  the  entering  class 
was  160,  many  students  who  sought  admission  to  the  first-year  class 
had  to  be  refused. 

However,  the  administration  looked  forward  to  a  normal  growth, 
and  in  1904  began  the  erection  of  a  six-story  edifice,  adjoining  the 
main  University  College  building.  It  was  completed  in  1905,  and 
was  open  for  the  winter  session,  thus  rendering  possible  a  further 
extension  and  elaboration  of  the  laboratory  work.  In  that  year 
the  faculty,  seeing  that  the  trend  of  medical  instruction  indicated 


470 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


the  early  further  expansion  in  the  course  required  for  graduation, 
announced  that  ' '  the  curriculum  of  the  present  four-year  course  in 
this  state  is  becoming  each  year  more  and  more  crowded,  and  a 
further  extension  of  the  time  required  for  graduation  in  medicine 
must  certainly  soon  come."  The  faculty  therefore  offered  an 
elective  fifth-year  course,  same  to  be  in  substitution  of  interne 
services ;  and  it  was  expected  that  the  fifth-year  class  would  become 
popular,  having,  as  it  was  pointed  out,  distinct  advantages  over  the 
interne  system,  which  always  meant  a  period  of  heavy  labor  to  the 
young  practitioner,  but  did  not  always  furnish  a  proportionate 
increase  in  medical  knowledge  whereas,  by  taking  the  fifth  year 
course  of  the  college,  all  the  advantages  of  the  practical  work  as 
interne  would  be  present  without  the  excessive  labor,  and  with  the 
added  advantage  of  school  supervision  and  instruction  with  which 
the  student  pursued  his  practical  work. 

In  the  opening  years  of  the  combined  school,  there  were  few 
faculty  changes  of  importance.  Prof.  D.  Hunter  McAlpin,  Jr., 
resigned  the  chair  of  gross  pathology ;  and  in  the  winter  of  1906-07 
Dr.  Ed.  K.  Dunham  resigned  the  head  professorship  of  pathology, 
but  consented  to  remain  a  member  of  the  faculty,  taking  a  research 
professorship,  and  in  due  course  he  was  succeeded  in  the  depart- 
ment of  pathology  by  Dr.  Richard  Mills  Pearce.  In  1906,  also, 
the  dean  of  the  college.  Dr.  Ed.  G.  Jane  way,  requested  the  Uni- 
versity Council  to  accept  his  resignation  as  Professor  of  Medicine, 
as  increasing  responsibilities  in  his  private  practice  made  it  impos- 
sible for  him  to  also  adequately  perform  the  duties  of  the  depart- 
ment. In  1907  the  tuition  fee  was  increased  to  $200  yearly,  an 
advance  rendered  imperative  by  the  continual  expansion  of  the 
curriculum,  and  consequent  increase  in  the  corps  of  instructors. 

One  phase  of  the  College  work  had  for  many  years  been  unsatis- 
factory— the  Medical  College  Clinic  had  been  hampered  for  many 
years,  and  a  report  for  1907-08  session  stated  that  it  "continued 
to  be  a  very  serious  problem,  over  one  hundred  thousand  cases 
having  been  treated  by  it  in  the  last  year,  but  owing  to  the  inade- 
quate space  at  the  disposal  of  the  College,  it  was  not  possible  to 
furnish  a  waiting  room  for  patients.  Two  years  later,  however, 
the  defect  was  to  some  extent  remedied,  an  extension  being  then 
made  to  the  Dispensary,  at  the  same  time  as  the  Carnegie  Labora- 
tory extension  was  made. 

Dr.  Egbert  Le  Fevre  had  become  dean,  vice  Dr.  Jane  way,  and 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  471 


the  session  of  1910-11  was  an  auspicious  one,  the  college  enrolling 
511  students,  and  on  January  10,  1911,  the  Carnegie  Laboratory- 
Extension,  a  building  six  stories  high,  fronting  on  First  avenue, 
and  adjoining  the  existing  clinic  buildings  on  the  south,  was  opened, 
Mr.  Carnegie  personally  attending  on  that  occasion.  The  exten- 
sion was  admirably  equipped,  containing  research  rooms  and  labo- 
ratories for  chemistry,  bacteriology,  hygiene,  pathology,  pharma- 
cology, and  surgical  research. 

In  that  and  the  previous  year,  many  changes  occurred  in  the 
faculty ;  two  of  the  vacancies  were  occasioned  by  death — Henry  G. 
Piffard,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Dermatology,  and  F.  T.  Brown, 
Professor  of  Genito-Urinary  Surgery,  passing  away  during  that 
session.  Dr.  Brown  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  E.  L.  Keyes,  Jr.,  and 
Dr.  Douglas  Symmers  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  pathology, 
vice  Professor  Pearce,  resigned.  Dr.  W.  E.  Studdiford  was  ad- 
vanced to  Adjunct  Professor  of  Gynecology,  and  Dr.  R.  J.  Carlisle 
became  Assistant  Professor  of  Medicine.  Dr.  E.  L.  Keyes,  Jr., 
however,  resigned  his  appointment  during  the  session  1910-11. 

In  the  following  session,  1911-12,  the  standard  of  requirement 
for  admission  to  the  college  courses  was  made  even  more  stringent ; 
in  that  year  and  thereafter,  no  student  would  be  admitted  to  the 
course  who  had  not  previously  received  at  least  one  year  of  col- 
lege training.  The  new  requirement  was  put  into  operation,  stated 
the  Chancellor,  "at  considerable  cost,"  but  he  nevertheless  recom- 
mended that  in  the  near  future  the  requirement  ''should  be  ad- 
vanced to  two  college  years."  In  that  year  the  registers  showed 
a  gratifying  enrollment  of  587  students;  the  faculty  changes  were 
few,  the  important  changes  being  the  advancement  of  Dr.  Alfred 
T.  Osgood  from  lecturer  to  the  professorship  of  Genito-Urinary 
Surgery,  and  Dr.  S.  A.  Brown  from  corresponding  secretary,  to 
secretary.  In  the  following  year,  William  B.  Trimble,  lecturer  of 
dermatology,  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  that  department  and  of 
syphilology,  vice  J.  A.  Fordyce,  resigned. 

On  March  30,  1914,  Dr.  Egbert  Le  Fevre,  dean  of  the  faculty, 
died;  ''No  one  can  estimate  the  loss  sustained  ...  by  the  whole 
university,"  commented  Chancellor  Brown,  in  his  annual  report. 
Dr.  William  H.  Park,  Professor  of  Bacteriology  and  Hygiene,  was 
appointed  to  the  deanship,  Dr.  S.  A.  Brown  becoming  vice-dean 
and  secretary.    In  that  year  also,  Dr.  Joseph  D.  Bryant,  who  had 


472 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


been  Professor  of  Surgery,  and  one  of  tlie  foremost  members  of 
the  faculty  for  so  many  years,  died. 

To  make  even  more  permanent  in  recollection  the  long  associa- 
tion of  her  deceased  husband  with  the  college,  Mrs.  Egbert  Le 
Fevre,  shortly  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Le  Fevre,  presented  to  the 
University  the  sum  of  $10,000  to  establish  the  ''Dr.  Egbert  Le 
Fevre  Deanship  Fund,"  the  income  to  apply  in  perpetuity  to 
supplement  the  salary  of  future  deans  of  the  Medical  College, 
while  in  office.  This  endowment  brought  into  general  knowledge 
a  condition  existent  for  many  years  in  almost  all  the  departments 
of  the  University,  but  until  then  appreciated  by  very  few.  The 
deans  of  almost  all  the  departments,  who  in  almost  all  instances 
were  also  performing  professorial  duties  at  the  recognized  emolu- 
ment for  that  office,  undertook  the  arduous  labors  of  the  deanship 
without  additional  remuneration;  in  some  cases,  the  deans  under- 
took the  dual  service  at  a  lower  stipend  than  that  received  by 
some  of  the  professors  of  the  department.  The  question  of  creat- 
ing endowments  for  the  deanships  had  previously  been  mooted, 
but  until  Mrs.  Le  Fevre  acted,  no  such  funds  had  been  established. 

During  the  session  1913-14,  William  Mabon,  Professor  of  Mental 
Diseases,  became  emeritus  professor  of  the  department,  and  the 
professorship  was  taken  by  Geo.  H.  Kirby,  formerly  associate  pro- 
fessor. Other  changes  were:  George  D.  Stewart,  from  an  asso- 
ciate professorship  of  surgery,  to  the  professorship  of  surgery,  in 
place  of  Dr.  Bryant,  deceased ;  Cornelius  G.  Coakley,  who  resigned 
the  chair  of  laryngology. 

Dr.  Park,  dean  of  the  Medical  College,  who  had  only  after  great 
pressure  been  persuaded  to  accept  the  office,  on  account  of  the 
many  other  professional  duties  that  demanded  his  time,  resigned 
the  deanship  in  1914,  and  Dr.  Samuel  A.  Brown,  vice-dean  and 
secretary,  became  acting  dean.  Later  he  was  confirmed  to  the 
office,  and  Dr.  John  Henry  Wyckoff  became  secretary. 

Dr.  A.  Alexander  Smith  died  on  December  13,  1914,  generally 
deplored.  He  had  been  connected  with  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical 
College  in  professorial  capacity  for  thirty-eight  years,  and  univer- 
sally esteemed  for  his  ability  as  an  instructor. 

During  the  session  1914-15,  587  students  attended  the  lectures, 
and  the  graduating  class  numbered  93.  The  enrollments  had  not, 
however,  even  yet  reached  a  satisfactory  level ;  in  fact,  the  Chan- 
cellor's  report  of  December,  1915,  made  it  evident  that  the  Medical 


NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  473 


College  was  retrogressing,  instead  of  progressing,  i.  e.,  in  point  of 
financial  resources.  The  report  refers  to  the  Medical  College  as 
being,  with  the  two  schools  at  the  Heights,  mainly  responsible  for 
the  University's  annual  deficit,  stating  that  "for  two  years  the 
Medical  College  deficit  was  over  $21,000."  In  the  season  1914-15 
its  deficit  was  $18,000.  Dr.  Elmer  Ellsworth  Brown,  the  Chancel- 
lor, further  stated  that  ''an  increase  of  at  least  a  million  dollars 
in  the  endowment  of  the  Medical  College  is  needed  at  once."  That 
the  College  will  ultimately  become  endowed  to  that  extent  is  not 
an  impossibility;  that  it  will  pass  out  of  existence  may  be  confi- 
dently asserted  to  be  an  impossibility,  when  one  bears  in  mind  the 
princely  generosity  in  public  benefactions  of  this  period  of  Amer- 
ican history,  and  the  meritorious  service  rendered  to  the  nation  by 
an  institution  of  the  high  standard  of  learning  such  as  is  the  ' '  Uni- 
versity and  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College." 


CHAPTER  III 


BELLEVUE  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 

BELLEVUE  HOSPITAL  of  New  York  City,  with  which 
since  1860  has  been  identified  one  of  the  nation's  leading 
medical  colleges,  may  lay  claim  to  being  the  oldest  hospital 
now  existing  in  the  United  States,  and  originally  as  the  Almshouse 
Hospital  may  be  considered  to  have  begun  in  1658,  when  the  poor- 
house  of  New  Amsterdam,  with  a  population  of  about  one  thou- 
sand, was  provided  with  a  hospital,  the  first  hospital  built  upon 
United  States  soil.  Master  Jacob  Hendrickszen  Varrevanger,  sur- 
geon to  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  suggested  its  establish- 
ment, of  which  when  opened  he  was  appointed  in  charge.  The 
early  efforts  were  under  church  auspices,  and  depended  upon  vol- 
untary subscription.  In  1731  the  city  suffered  its  third  epidemic 
of  small-pox,  attributed  mainly  to  unsanitary  conditions.  As  a 
remedial  measure,  a  poorhouse  was  suggested,  and  on  November 
15,  1734,  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  appointed  a  committee 
to  consider  the  matter,  but  it  was  not  until  1736  that  a  ^'Publick 
Workhouse  and  House  of  Correction  of  the  City  of  New  York," 
was  opened.  One  room,  25  feet  by  23  feet,  was  set  apart  as  an 
infirmary,  equipped  with  requisites,  including  six  beds,  and  Dr. 
John  Van  Buren  was  appointed  medical  officer.  As  the  city  grew, 
so  the  Almshouse  developed,  and  the  medical  department  of  the 
Almshouse  grew  in  proportion.  In  1811-16  the  city  built  a  new 
almshouse  and  two  hospital  pavilions,  in  a  district  known  as  * '  Belle- 
vue."  The  hospital  was  of  brick,  75  feet  in  length  by  25  in  width. 
The  cost  was  $421,109.56,  and  the  buildings  were  adequate  for 
many  years. 

The  earliest  reference  to  public  instruction  in  Bellevue  Hospital 
appears  to  have  been  in  the  "Medical  Repository"  of  1804,  stating 
that  a  lying-in  ward  had  been  established  in  the  almshouse,  and  that 
'*as  a  sufficient  number  of  cases  occurred  there,"  Dr.  Valentine 
Seaman  had  begun  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  ' '  obstetric  art,  includ- 
ing anatomy,  physiology,  and  practical  parts."   Three  years  later 

474 


BELLEVUE  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  475 


the  College  of  Phj^sicians  and  Surgeons  was  established,  and  one 
of  its  early  announcements  made  reference  to  the  extensive  clinical 
observations  possible  at  the  adjacent  Almshouse  Hospital. 

Although  for  forty  years  certain  clinical  instruction  was  given 
by  the  resident  staff  of  the  Hospital,  the  fees  private  perquisites  of 
the  instructor,  medical  instruction  was  not  systematically  organ- 
ized, and  it  was  not  until  1847  that  certain  medical  men,  aware  that 
at  the  Bellevue  Hospital  and  Almshouse  were  then  about  one  thou- 
sand patients,  deplored  the  fact  that  ''such  a  wide  field  for  clinical 
instruction  should  be  lost  to  the  city,  to  science,  and  to  the  world, ' ' 
which  idea  possibly  influenced  the  Almshouse  department,  for  in 
that  year  what  may  be  termed  the  regime  of  the  resident  physicians 
was  ended,  and  a  medical  board  organized. 

Prior  to  1847,  the  Hospital  staff  consisted  of  a  resident  physician 
and  six  assistants,  without  salary,  and  appointed  for  one  year. 
They  were  appallingly  overworked,  and  unable  to  cope  with  the 
epidemics  present  each  year.  Over  14,000  cases  were  treated  in 
1846.  Typhus  fever  was  very  frequent,  and  in  1847,  distinguished 
in  the  Hospital  history  as  that  of  the  ''great  epidemic,"  carried 
off  many  of  the  young  assistant  physicians.  There  were  1,995 
cases  of  typhus  and  ship  fever  from  January  1  to  August  3  that 
year,  and  tents  were  pitched  on  the  adjacent  green. 

Certain  doctors  volunteered  to  supplement  the  resident  staff, 
while  others  undertook  to  pay  visits.  Eventually  the  Board  of 
Aldermen  were  constrained  ' '  to  give  the  poor  creatures  at  Bellevue 
some  of  their  distinguished  consideration.''  The  Common  Council? 
appointed  a  committee  of  prominent  medical  men  to  present  a  plan 
for  reorganization,  which  committee  recommended  the  creation 
of  a  board  of  visiting  physicians  and  surgeons,  with  authority 
over  the  resident  staff.  On  November  17,  1847,  a  medical  board 
was  organized :  Drs.  James  R.  Manley  and  John  W.  Francis,  con- 
sulting physicians;  Valentine  Mott  and  Alexander  H.  Stevens, 
consulting  surgeons ;  Alonzo  Clark,  John  T.  Metcalfe,  C.  R.  Oilman, 
S.  R.  Harris,  A.  G.  Elliot,  and  William  H.  Van  Buren,  visiting 
physicians;  James  R.  Wood,  Willard  Parker,  F.  Campbell  Stew- 
art, J.  0.  Stone,  S.  R.  Childs,  and  Alexander  Vachi,  visiting  sur- 
geons. The  officers  were:  Dr.  James  R.  Manley,  president;  Dr. 
Valentine  Mott,  vice-president;  Dr.  John  T.  Metcalfe,  secretary. 

At  their  first  annual  meeting  in  December,  1848,  the  board  looked 
forward  "with  confident  expectation  to  a  continuation  of  this  lib- 


476 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


eral  system"  by  which  the  sick  poor  were  cared  for,  the  public 
interests  safeguarded,  and  the  cause  of  true  science  and  sound 
medical  learning  steadily  promoted."  The  minutes  of  February 
28,  1849,  had  reference  to  the  construction  of  an  amphitheatre  at 
the  hospital  for  clinical  instruction.  This  opened  March  2,  1850, 
and  it  was  announced  that  clinical  lectures  would  be  delivered  by 
members  of  the  Hospital  staff  every  Friday.  Thus  was  laid  the 
first  seed  of  that  clinical  teaching  with  which  the  name  of  Bellevue 
has  since  been  synonymous. 

During  the  fifties,  Bellevue  Hospital  became  the  centre  of  clin- 
ical teaching  in  New  York  City.  In  1855  a  fourth  story  was  added 
to  the  main  building,  and  therein  were  established  an  amphithea- 
tre, to  accommodate  six  hundred  persons,  and  an  operating  theatre 

without  equal  in  the  United  States"  at  that  time.  This  was 
much  appreciated  by  practitioners  and  medical  students,  and  the 
faculty  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  was  soon  able 
to  announce  that  students  of  the  college  would  be  permitted  to 
observe  the  treatment  of  cases  in  the  new  amphitheatre,  where 
the  operations  performed  before  the  students  would  be  "of  the 
gravest  nature."  These  and  other  facilities  for  medical  instruc- 
tion at  Bellevue  Hospital  were  encouraged  by  if  not  directly  attrib- 
utable to,  the  enactment  of  the  ''Bone  Bill"  in  1854,  which  legal- 
ized dissection  of  human  material,  thus  removing  the  necessity  of 
dangerous  procedures  to  secure  requisite  material  for  anatom- 
ical research. 

About  that  time,  the  authorities  of  the  Almshouse  decided  to 
replace  the  noxious  dead  house  with  a  larger  building,  but  it  was 
not  until  1857  that  it  was  completed.  It  was  of  brick,  two  stories 
in  height,  the  upper  story  designed  as  a  pathological  museum,  con- 
taining a  lecture-room.  This  museum  became  the  Wood  Patholog- 
ical Museum  of  Bellevue  Hospital,  so  named  in  honor  of  Dr.  James 
R.  Wood,  to  whose  energy  its  establishment  was  attributed.  The 
building  was  inaugurated  October  25,  1857,  and  addresses  were 
delivered  by  Drs.  John  W.  Francis,  and  James  R.  Wood,  and  by 
Profs.  Valentine  Mott,  Stevens,  and  Parker,  Dr.  Mott's  address 
being  supplemented  by  a  demonstration  of  the  anatomy  of  hernia. 

Although  clinical  instruction  at  Bellevue  Hospital  had  consid- 
erably improved  since  the  establishment  of  the  medical  board  in 
1847,  instruction  continued  to  be  given  under  no  well-developed 
scheme.    The  students  varied  in  number  from  fifty  to  two  hun- 


BELLEYUE  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  477 


dred.  At  the  inauguration  of  the  museum,  October  19,  1857,  Dr. 
Wood  announced  that  a  definite  course  of  lectures  would  be  avail- 
able to  students  and  practitioners,  upon  payment  of  a  fee;  that 
attendance  at  such  lectures  would  be  substantiated  by  the  award- 
ing of  certificates  to  students  who  took  the  course;  and  "that  the 
lectures  instituted  would  be  the  first  systematized  series  of  clin- 
ical lectures  ever  delivered  in  this  country."  The  lecturers  in- 
cluded Drs.  Clark,  Parker,  Metcalfe,  and  Wood,  and  the  clinical 
courses  developed  so  substantially  that  in  1860  upward  of  three 
hundred  tickets  had  been  taken  out. 

In  that  year,  in  consequence  of  the  supersedence  of  the  old 
board  of  ten  governors  by  a  new  board  of  control  called  the  Board 
of  Commissioners  of  Public  Charities  and  Correction,  the  medical 
board  of  Bellevue  Hospital  became  possessed  of  the  care  of  all  the 
medical  departments  of  the  various  city  charitable  and  penal 
institutions  on  Ward's  Island,  with  the  exception  of  the  Lunatic 
Asylum  and  the  Infants'  Hospital.  By  this  arrangement  960 
additional  patients  came  under  the  care  of  the  Bellevue  Hospital 
Medical  Board,  and  the  consequent  enlarged  scope  for  clinical  in- 
struction and  observation  prompted  the  medical  board  to  seriously 
consider  the  expansion  of  its  plan  of  medical  instruction. 

On  December  18,  1860,  a  committee  of  physicians  made  refer- 
ence to  the  great  advantages  present  for  the  enlargement  of  the 
field  of  clinical  instruction,  and  recommending  the  advisability  of 
''advancing  the  cause  of  medical  science"  by  establishing  in  con- 
nection with  Bellevue  Hospital  ' '  a  college  for  the  education  of  the 
young  men  .  .  .  thus  making  it  one  of  the  best  hospitals  and  med- 
ical schools  in  the  United  States — nay,  in  Europe. ' ' 

In  March,  1861,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  procure  plans  for 
a  college  building,  and  on  the  30th  the  Commissioners  of  Public 
Charities  and  Correction  notified  the  medical  board  of  Bellevue 
Hospital  that  they  approved  of  the  erection  of  such  a  building 
within  the  hospital  inclosure.  Consequently,  the  medical  board 
considered  the  formation  of  a  faculty.  Some  of  the  board  were 
professorially  identified  with  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons, and  with  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital;  others  were 
disinclined  to  add  teaching  to  their  professional  duties.  However, 
Drs.  B.  W.  McCready,  J.  E.  Taylor,  J.  R.  Wood,  L.  A.  Sayre, 
S.  Smith,  A.  B.  Mott  and  A.  L.  Loomis  were  ready,  and  on  April 
1,  1861,  the  faculty  was  organized  by  electing  Dr.  I.  E.  Taylor  to 


478 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


the  presidency  and  treasureship,  and  Dr.  B.  W.  McCready  to  the 
secretaryship.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  ascertain  what  mem- 
bers of  the  hospital  staff  would  become  members  of  the  faculty, 
which  committee  reported  that  ten,  of  the  eighteen,  would  partici- 
pate in  the  instructional  responsibilities.  Consequently,  on  April 
2,  1861,  chairs  were  assigned  as  follows:  Principles  and  Practice 
of  Surgery,  S.  Smith;  Surgery  of  Bones  and  Accidents,  F.  H. 
Hamilton;  Operative  Surgery,  and  Surgical  Pathology,  J.  R. 
Wood ;  Surgical  Anatomy,  A.  B.  Mott ;  Orthopedic  Surgery,  L.  A. 
Sayre;  Obstetrics,  J.  E.  Taylor,  Fordyce  Barker  and  G.  T.  Elliot, 
Jr. ;  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics,  B.  W.  McCready;  Anatomy, 
J.  W.  S.  Gouley.  Later  in  that  month  three  of  the  professors  of 
Long  Island  College  Hospital  joined  the  faculty,  as  follows: 
Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine,  Austin  Flint;  Physiology, 
Austin  Flint,  Jr.;  Chemistry  and  Toxicology,  R.  0.  Doremus. 

These  thirteen  constituted  the  original  faculty,  as  recorded  in 
the  minutes  of  the  Commissioners  of  Public  Charities  and  Cor- 
rection, April  11,  1861,  but  the  ''First  Annual  Announcement  and 
Circular"  issued  that  summer  shows  that  certain  changes  had 
been  made.  Dr.  R.  Ogden  Doremus  had  become  treasurer,  vice 
Dr.  Isaac  E.  Taylor,  who  retained  the  presidency ;  and  Dr.  Timothy 
Childs  had  been  appointed  to  the  chair  of  Descriptive  Anatomy,  in 
place  of  Dr.  Gouley,  who  resigned  June  1,  1861,  considering  it  his 
duty  to  remain  in  the  army  during  the  continuance  of  the  war. 
Further  appointments  for  the  opening  session  were:  Charles  D. 
Phelps,  Curator  of  the  Museum;  N.  R.  Moseley,  Prosector  to  the 
Chair  of  Surgical  Anatomy ;  and  Sylvester  Teats,  Prosector  to  the 
Chair  of  Operative  Surgery  and  Surgical  Pathology. 

The  charter  was  granted  April  8,  1861,  with  the  following 
trustees:  Samuel  Draper,  James  B.  Nicholson,  Moses  H.  Gunnell, 
and  Isaac  Bell,  Jr.,  who  were  appointed  by  virtue  of  their  ca- 
pacities as  Commissioners  of  Public  Charities  and  Correction; 
Robert  H.  Haws,  Comptroller  of  New  York,  James  T.  Brady,  the 
Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Hughes,  John  J.  Astor,  Moses  Taylor,  Wil- 
liam B.  Crosley,  John  Ward,  Samuel  D.  Cook,  D.D.,  E.  H.  Chapin, 
D.D.,  Geo.  F.  Talman,  Edward  Mintum,  J.  P.  Giraud  Foster, 
Anthony  L.  Robertson,  R.  M.  Blatchford,  Robert  S.  Hone,  Watts 
Sherman  and  Matthew  Morgan. 

On  April  11,  1861,  the  Commissioners  of  Public  Charities  and 
Correction  granted  permission  to  the  Trustees  of  the  College  to 


BELLEVUE  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  479 


erect  a  suitable  building  on  the  southerly  part  of  the  hospital 
grounds,  and  five  days  later  the  trustees  passed  plans  for  the 
building.  They  also  elected  Simeon  Draper  first  president  of  the 
board  of  trustees,  in  which  capacity  he  served  five  years. 

During  the  summer  the  first  building  was  completed,  and  the 
preliminary  term  was  announced  to  commence  on  Wednesday,  Sep- 
tember 18,  1861,  to  continue  four  weeks,  and  to  be  followed  by 
the  regular  term,  to  continue  until  early  in  March  of  1862.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  first  exercises  of  the  college,  as  such,  were  short 
courses  given  during  April  and  May,  1861,  by  Profs.  Wood  and 
Hamilton,  upon  points  connected  with  military  surgery,  then  ren- 
dered important  by  the  commencement  of  the  Civil  War.  These 
were  attended  by  about  two  hundred  practitioners  and  students. 

In  many  particulars  the  ''First  Annual  Announcement  and 
Circular"  is  interesting.  It  is  a  sixteen-page  pamphlet,  on  front 
outside  cover  a  woodcut  of  Bellevue  Hospital,  represented  as  ' '  con- 
taining 1,200  beds,"  and  on  back  outside  cover  a  like  illustration 
of  Blackwell's  Island  Hospital,  ''containing  1,500  beds."  The 
announcement  opened  with  assurance  by  the  trustees  and  fac- 
ulty that  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College  "will  command  the 
approbation  and  warm  interest  of  the  medical  profession  of  this 
country,"  and  that  by  "systematizing  the  mode  of  instruc- 
tion .  .  .  the  future  success  of  the  institution  will  satisfy  the  highest 
expectations  of  all  who  are  interested  in  medical  education."  It 
stated  the  plans  of  the  College  to  be  mainly  that  instruction  in  all 
branches  of  physics  and  surgery  would  be  "eminently  practical," 
and  that  the  "vast  resources"  of  the  Bellevue  and  allied  hospitals 
would  be  utilized  in  combining  "to  the  fullest  extent  thorough 
didactive  with  demonstrative  teaching."  It  declared  that  "this 
plan  has  recently  been  adopted  in  this  country,  but  in  no  other 
instance  on  a  scale  so  extensive. ' '  The  circular  further  announced 
that  "the  salubrious  situation  of  the  Hospital,  with  its  spacious 
grounds  fronting  on  East  River,  renders  attendance  at  lectures 
as  early  as  September  and  October  perfectly  comfortable  for  the 
student."  The  aggregate  fees  for  tickets  to  all  the  lectures  were 
$105,  students  who  had  attended  two  full  courses  in  other  accred- 
ited schools  to  be  admitted  for  $50.  To  qualify  for  graduation  the 
student  must  have  studied  for  three  years  with  "a  regular  and 
respectable  practitioner  of  medicine,"  during  or  after  which  he 
must  take  two  full  courses  of  medical  lectures,  the  last  at  Bellevue 


480 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


College;  in  addition,  he  must  present  an  acceptable  thesis  in  his 
own  handwriting,  and  to  substantiate  his  authorship  thereof  must 
undergo  a  satisfactory  examination  by  professors  of  the  faculty. 
Prospective  students  were  informed  that  ''comfortable  board  and 
lodging"  could  be  obtained  in  the  vicinity  of  the  college  for  from 
$3.00  to  $5.00  per  week. 

At  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine  is  a  pamphlet  recording 
the  inaugural  exercises  of  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College. 
These  took  place  October  18,  1861,  in  the  lecture  room.  The  guests 
made  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  charitable  institutions  on  Black- 
well's  and  Randall's  Islands,  the  inmates  participating  in  a  num- 
ber of  exercises,  some  patriotic  in  spirit,  and  later  gathered 
in  the  lecture  room  of  the  new  college  building.  Professor  Taylor, 
president  of  the  college,  presided.  An  address  was  delivered  by 
Prof.  B.  W.  McCready,  who  referred  to  the  Guy's  and  St.  Thomas's 
(London)  hospitals  as  examples  of  the  hospital-college  advan- 
tages, and  said  that  while  the  authorities  of  Bellevue  Hospital 
had  been  discussing  the  project  of  initiating  a  like  system  in  the 
United  States,  ' '  our  enterprising  neighbors  on  the  other  side  of  the 
East  River — the  City  of  Churches — stole  a  march  upon  New  York, 
and  ...  in  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital  set  an  example  to  the 
Union. ' '  Speeches  were  also  made  by  Simeon  Draper,  Archbishop 
Hughes,  Rev.  E.  H.  Chapin,  James  T.  Brady,  the  Rev.  Chancellor 
Ferris  closing  the  exercises  with  prayer. 

The  college  building  within  the  hospital  grounds  had  been 
erected  at  the  expense  of  the  trustees  and  faculty  of  the  medical 
college,  and  the  Commissioners  of  Public  Charities  and  Correction 
were  unable  to  exercise  any  effective  degree  of  control  over  the 
institution.  Deeming  such  a  condition  unadvisable,  they  bought 
the  building  from  the  faculty  in  May,  1862,  and  in  return  leased 
it  to  the  faculty  for  a  term  of  years.  Ten  months  later,  those 
interested  in  the  project  met  to  consider  the  erection  of  a  larger 
building  and  on  a  different  site.  The  Commissioners  of  Charities 
and  Correction,  not  wishing  the  college  to  go  outside  the  hospital 
grounds,  proposed  to  erect  a  new  building  therein  and  lease  it  to 
the  college.  This  was  accepted,  it  being  agreed  that  the  lower 
floor  should  be  devoted  to  dispensary  requirements.  A  few  months 
later  a  ''Bureau  of  Medical  and  Surgical  Relief  for  Out-door 
Poor"  was  established,  but  it  was  not  until  the  winter  of  1865-66 
that  the  new  building  was  erected.    The  lower  floor  was  for  the 


BELLEVUE  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  481 


dispensary,  and  on  December  2,  1865,  the  upper  part  of  the  build- 
ing was  leased  to  the  faculty  for  the  purposes  of  the  college.  Cer- 
tain alterations  were  made  to  the  old  college  building,  and  the 
former  auditorium  was  used  for  the  requirements  of  the  museum, 
which  by  the  presentation  of  many  large  private  collections  had 
become  an  important  asset  of  the  college ;  ixi  addition  to  the  miscel- 
laneous accumulations,  it  contained  the  collections  of  Profs.  Wood 
and  Mott,  and,  through  purchase  by  the  trustees  in  1864,  the 
Museum  of  the  New  York  University  Medical  College. 

No  faculty  changes  occurred  during  the  first  four  years,  except 
that  in  1862  Prof.  B.  Silliman,  Jr.,  of  Yale,  substituted  for  Dr. 
Doremus,  who  was  in  Europe.  Dr.  Childs'  death,  which  occurred 
at  Norwich,  Conn.,  September  3,  1865,  created  a  vacancy,  and  Dr. 
Stephen  Smith  was  appointed  lecturer  upon  anatomy,  being  ad- 
vanced to  the  chair  of  anatomy  two  years  later;  as  such  he  re- 
mained until  1872.  The  Principles  of  Surgery  department,  for- 
merly under  Dr.  Smith,  was  assigned  to  Prof.  Hamilton,  in  addi- 
tion to  his  other  duties.  In  1866,  Dr.  Henry  D.  Noyes,  Demon- 
strator of  Anatomy,  was  made  Professor  of  Ophthalmology.  A 
summer  course  of  lectures  having  been  inaugurated,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  supplement  the  regular  faculty ;  Dr.  Freeman  J.  Bumstead 
was  appointed  Professor  of  Syphilology;  Dr.  Foster  Smith,  lec- 
turer on  diseases  of  the  skin ;  and  Dr.  J.  Lewis  Smith,  lecturer  on 
morbid  anatomy.  Later,  Dr.  Bumstead  resigned,  and  Dr.  W.  H. 
Van  Buren  was  called  to  the  newly-created  chair  of  diseases  of 
the  genito-urinary  system.  In  April,  1867,  the  chair  of  diseases 
of  the  mind  and  nervous  system  was  created,  and  Dr.  W.  A.  Ham- 
mond was  elected  to  it.  President  Taylor,  who  had  tendered  his 
resignation,  was  constrained  to  withdraw  it  upon  release  from 
some  of  his  professorial  duties,  and  as  his  administration  was 
invaluable,  he  was  held  in  the  presidency  by  being  appointed  to 
an  emeritus  professorship.  In  April,  1868,  Prof.  Wood  became 
Emeritus  Professor  of  Surgery,  and  in  the  following  autumn 
Professor  Barker  resigned,  but  undertook  the  lessened  responsibil- 
ities of  the  chair  of  clinical  midwifery  and  diseases  of  women. 
Prof.  Elliot,  during  the  sessions  of  1868-70,  undertook  the  full 
didactic  course  on  obstetrics,  in  place  of  Drs.  Taylor  and  Barker; 
in  1870,  however,  he  was  incapacitated  by  illness,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  succumbed.  Dr.  William  T.  Lusk,  an  alumnus  of  the 
college  and  formerly  lecturer  on  physiology  in  the  Long  Island 


482 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


College  Hospital  and  at  Harvard  University,  was  appointed  to  the 
vacancy,  and  Dr.  Foster  Swift  having  resigned.  Dr.  Edward  L. 
Keyes  became  lecturer  in  dermatology.  In  1871-72,  Profs.  Mc- 
Cready  and  Stephen  Smith  resigned,  and  Dr.  W.  A.  Hammond 
became  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics  and  Diseases 
of  the  Mind  and  Nervous  System,  and  Dr.  Alpheus  B.  Crosby 
became  Professor  of  Anatomy.  Professor  Mott  retired  from  the 
chair  of  surgical  anatomy,  and  became  Professor  of  Clinical  and 
Operative  Surgery.  At  the  Bureau  for  the  Relief  of  the  Outdoor 
Poor  a  medical  clinic  was  established,  under  Prof.  Austin  Flint, 
Sr.,  and  a  clinic  for  diseases  of  children  was  taken  by  Prof,  Lusk. 
The  chair  of  pathological  anatomy  having  been  established,  Dr. 
Edward  G.  Jane  way  was  appointed,  and  Dr.  Keyes  became  Pro- 
fessor of  Dermatology. 

The  development  of  the  college  during  the  first  decade  was  sub- 
stantial. In  instruction,  the  faculty  indefatigably  sought  ex- 
pansion, and  established  many  new  departments.  The  inauguration 
in  1867  of  the  summer  session  was  an  important  advancement, 
although  it  entailed  additional  heavy  responsibilities  to  the  faculty, 
the  following  members  of  which  assumed  the  additional  labors: 
Drs.  Noyes,  J.  L.  Smith,  Swift,  Van  Buren,  Elliot,  Flint,  Jr.,  and 
Doremus.  In  1871,  recitations  superseded  the  systematic  lectures 
entirely,  the  course  being  made  up  of  clinics,  practical  instruction 
in  diagnosis,  surgical  operations,  chemical  manipulations,  and  reci- 
tations. 

In  that  year,  the  Commissioners  of  Charities  and  Correction 
erected  a  larger  amphitheatre,  and  the  clinics  became  more  and 
more  varied.  In  February,  1872,  Dr.  B.  W.  McCready  was  hon- 
ored by  admission  to  emeritus  rank,  and  Prof.  Janeway  became 
examiner  in  the  summer  recitation  class,  in  place  of  Dr.  N.  R. 
Moseley,  resigned.  Joseph  D.  Bryant,  A.  Hammond,  and  LeRoy 
M.  Yale  were  appointed  lecturers  for  the  summer  session.  The 
department  of  obstetrics  and  diseases  of  women  and  children  hav- 
ing become  too  laborious  for  Prof.  Lusk,  Dr.  D.  Warren  Brickill, 
formerly  Professor  of  Obstetrics  in  the  New  Orleans  School  of 
Medicine,  was  appointed  associate  professor,  thus  enabling  Dr. 
Lusk  to  carry  through  his  intention  to  deliver  a  systematic  course 
of  lectures  on  the  diseases  of  children  during  the  subsequent  sum- 
mer session.  Prof.  Hammond  resigned  on  August  11,  1873,  and 
soon  left  the  college  altogether.   The  department  of  diseases  of  the 


BELLEVUE  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  483 


mind  and  nervous  system  was  abolished,  and  to  the  department  of 
materia  medica  and  therapeutics,  vacated  by  Prof.  Hammond,  Ed. 
G.  Janeway  was  appointed  lecturer.  During  1873-74,  Prof.  Mott 
ceased  his  didactic  lectures,  and  devoted  himself  to  his  surgical 
clinic.  On  April  7,  1874,  Prof.  Brickill  resigned,  and  Prof.  Jane- 
way  entered  the  faculty  as  Professor  of  Pathological  and  Practical 
Anatomy;  on  May  12,  1874,  the  chair  of  gynacology  was  created, 
and  Dr.  Edward  Randolph  Peaslee,  formerly  a  professor  of  the 
University  of  Vermont  and  New  York  University  Medical  College, 
was  elected  to  it.  On  April  21,  1875,  the  chair  of  the  practice  of 
surgery  and  operations  and  clinical  surgery,  until  then  occupied 
by  Prof.  Hamilton,  was  declared  vacant,  and  the  chairs  of  the 
principles  and  practice  of  surgery  were  united,  and  Prof.  Van 
Buren  placed  at  the  head  of  the  reorganized  department.  Dr.  Wood 
resuming  didactic  teaching  so  far  as  to  lecture  upon  hernia,  etc.. 
Prof.  Sayre  taking  fractures  and  dislocations,  in  connection  with 
orthopedic  surgery.  On  May  20,  1875,  the  chair  of  Physiological 
Medicine  and  Medical  Jurisprudence,  then  newly  created,  was 
filled  by  appointment  of  Dr.  John  P.  Gray,  and  Dr.  Beverly  Robin- 
son became  instructor  in  Laryngology.  On  March  1,  1876,  Prof. 
Janeway  resigned  the  professorship  of  Materia  Medica  and  Thera- 
peutics, Dr.  William  M.  Polk  succeeding  him.  Also  in  March, 
1876,  Dr.  J.  Lewis  Smith  was  appointed  Professor  of  Diseases  of 
Children.  Prof.  Crosby  died  in  August,  1877,  and  Dr.  J.  D. 
Bryant  was  appointed  lecturer  on  Anatomy  for  the  winter  session. 
In  September,  Dr.  Erskine  Mason,  surgeon  to  Roosevelt  and  Belle- 
vue  hospitals,  was  appointed  Clinical  Professor  of  Surgery,  and 
later  Dr.  Bryant  was  confirmed  to  the  chair  of  General  Descriptive 
and  Surgical  Anatomy. 

Early  in  1878,  Prof.  Peaslee  passed  away,  and  his  chair  of 
Gynecology  was  again  taken  by  Prof.  Lusk.  In  February,  1879, 
Prof.  Janeway  resigned  the  chair  of  Practical  Anatomy,  and  its 
duties  were  entrusted  to  Drs.  Fred  S.  Dennis  and  William  H. 
Welsh.  In  that  spring  Dr.  Polk  resigned,  and  the  department  of 
Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics  was  placed  in  charge  of  Dr. 
Abram  A.  Smith,  as  lecturer;  Dr.  Joseph  W.  Howe  was  appointed 
Clinical  Professor  of  Surgery.  In  1880  Dr.  A.  A.  Smith  was 
appointed  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics  and  of 
Clinical  Medicine,  and  Dr.  Charles  A.  Doremus  adjunct  to  Pro- 
fessor of  Chemistry  and  Toxicology. 


484 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


In  1880  the  faculty  established  permanent  lectureships  under 
Drs.  Wm.  H.  Welsh,  T.  H.  Burchard,  A.  R.  Robinson  and  C.  S. 
Bull.  The  preliminary  classes  were  abolished,  and  the  regular 
course  lengthened,  students  to  assemble  about  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember, instead  of  in  mid-October.  Three  courses  of  lectures  were 
to  be  essential  for  graduation,  with  the  other  customary  evidences 
of  proficiency.  These  alterations  in  the  plan  of  instruction  were 
not  decided  upon  until  after  considerable  deliberation.  The  de- 
sire of  the  faculty  was  to  send  out  only  thoroughly  competent 
practitioners,  and  the  expansion  of  the  departments  made  it  almost 
impossible  for  the  student  to  obtain  within  the  two-year  period  an 
adequate  grasp  of  all  the  subjects  he  should  know.  In  1878-79 
adding  a  third  year  to  the  qualification  was  considered  by  the 
faculty  and  the  State  Regents.  In  due  course  it  was  announced 
that  such  would  become  necessary,  and  the  entering  class  of  1880 
enrolled  under  the  new  requirement. 

In  the  following  year  the  College,  for  reasons  not  clearly  stated, 
but  probably  financial  (as  the  first-year  enrollments  of  1880  were 
not  satisfactory),  reverted  to  the  two-year  system,  and  although 
recommending  the  three-year  course  did  not  make  it  compulsory 
for  graduation.  The  faculty  was  perhaps  to  some  extent  influ- 
enced in  their  decision  by  the  fact  that  the  other  two  medical 
colleges  of  the  city  still  adhered  to  the  two-year  course  as  the 
essential  to  graduation.  However,  they  held  to  the  extension  of 
the  regular  session  to  six  months.  That  the  standard  of  education 
had  been  of  very  high  grade,  is  verified  in  an  announcement  made 
by  the  faculty  in  1872,  that  thereafter  the  diploma  of  the  College 
would  be  recognized  by  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  Eng- 
land, for  those  who  had  passed  a  regular  matriculation  examina- 
tion in  classics,  mathematics,  etc.  In  that  year,  the  matriculation 
requirements  at  Bellevue  were :  English  language,  including  gram- 
mar and  composition;  Arithmetic,  including  vulgar  and  decimal 
fractions;  Algebra,  including  simple  equations;  Geometry,  first 
two  books  of  Euclid;  Latin,  translation  and  grammar,  and  one  of 
the  following  optional  studies:  Greek,  French,  German,  Philoso- 
phy, including  Mechanics,  Hydrostatics,  and  Pneumatics. 

In  the  announcement  of  1880,  the  year  in  which  was  inaugurated 
the  three-year  requirement,  the  main  regulations  governing  the 
granting  of  the  degree  were  emphasized,  the  faculty  stating  that 
**to  prevent  any  misunderstanding,  the  only  course  of  lectures 


BELLEVUE  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  485 


recognized  are  those  taken  at  regularly  organized  medical  col- 
leges, empowered  to  confer  the  degree  of  M.D.,  the  courses  em- 
bracing practice  of  medicine,  surgery,  obstetrics,  materia  medica, 
physiology,  anatomy,  and  chemistry.  The  tickets  and  diplomas 
of  Eclectic,  Homoeopathic,  or  Botanic  colleges,  or  colleges  devoted 
to  any  peculiar  system  of  medicine,  or  who  advertise,  or  violate 
in  any  way  the  code  of  ethics  adopted  by  the  profession,  will  not 
be  received,  under  any  circumstances,  even  if  the  preceptors  be 
regular  graduates  in  medicine.  The  three  years  of  study  are  re- 
quired by  the  charter  of  the  college. ' ' 

The  fees  for  1880-81  were  fixed  at  $140,  the  same  for  second 
year,  and  $100  for  the  third.  At  that  time  almost  all  the  pro- 
fessors gave  additional  private  tuition  once  or  twice  weekly. 
These  classes  were  not  in  the  regular  curriculum,  and  the  students 
who  attended  them  made  payment  of  additional  fees.  The  class 
of  1880-81  was  considerably  less  than  that  of  the  previous  year, 
and  the  full  enrollment  was  only  379,  but  in  the  following  year 
the  enrollment  of  480  again  approached  the  normal  registration, 
and  satisfied  the  faculty  that  the  appropriate  time  for  the  adoption 
of  the  three-year  requirement  for  graduation  had  not  yet  arrived. 

In  1883,  Dr.  Joseph  D.  Bryant,  Professor  of  General  De- 
scriptive and  Surgical  Anatomy,  was  appointed  Professor  of  Anat- 
omy and  Clinical  Surgery,  and  Associate  Professor  of  Orthopedic 
Surgery. 

In  1884,  Andrew  Carnegie  gave  $50,000  for  the  erection  of  a 
building  for  laboratories,  and  apparatus  for  its  equipment.  The 
trustees  purchased  a  lot  on  East  Twenty-sixth  Street,  50  ft.  by 
100  ft.,  adjoining  the  Hospital,  and  the  erection  of  the  building 
soon  followed.  It  was  devoted  mainly  to  laboratory  work  in 
physiology,  pathology,  therapeutics,  and  other  departments  of 
medicine,  and  its  five  stories,  containing  three  general  laboratories 
and  private  rooms  for  original  research,  and  a  large  auditorium 
for  teaching  by  lectures,  constituted  a  very  valuable  adjunct  to 
the  facilities  of  the  College.  The  inauguration  ceremony  took  place 
during  the  winter  session  of  1884-85. 

For  1886-87,  many  departments  were  reorganized,  resulting  in 
certain  changes  in  positions  held  by  some  of  the  faculty,  but  no 
new  names  were  added  to  it.  The  enrollments  for  1884-85-86  were 
poor,  but  thereafter  the  advancement  was  substantial  for  some 
years.    The  matriculants  of  1884-85  were  only  365,  those  of  the 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


session  1887-88  were  415,  and  the  register  of  1889-90  showed  519 
students. 

In  1890,  the  faculty  agreed  with  the  State  Regents  to  again  at- 
tempt to  raise  the  standard  of  graduates,  and  announced  that  be- 
ginning with  the  session  of  1891-92,  three  courses  of  lectures  would 
be  compulsory  for  graduation,  explaining  that  ' '  to  keep  pace  with 
the  progressive  advance  in  medicine,  it  has  been  found  necessary 
to  constantly  extend  the  course  of  instruction,  until  it  has  become 
difficult  for  students  to  adequately  prepare  themselves  for  the  final 
examination,  without  attending  more  than  two  courses  of  lec- 
tures." As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  course  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses had  been  one  of  three  years,  seeing  that  more  than  eighty 
per  cent,  of  the  students  had  found  it  necessary  to  take  the  op- 
tional course  of  three  years.  Under  the  new  plan,  the  fees  were 
increased  to  $150  per  annum,  with  additional  fees  for  the  spring 
session,  and  use  of  laboratory. 

Although  the  change  caused  a  considerable  reduction  in  the  num- 
ber of  enrollments  and  a  consequent  loss  in  fees,  the  authorities 
held  resolutely  to  the  decision.  The  three-year  course  involved 
important  modifications  in  the  curriculum,  and  effected  a  consid- 
erable extension  of  practical  teaching  at  the  bedside  and  in  surgical 
operations  and  dressings,  greater  efficiency  in  the  regular  college 
recitations,  with  more  time  remaining  for  laboratory  instruction 
and  dissections.  However,  generally,  and  particularly  from  the 
professional  viewpoint,  the  faculty  welcomed  the  higher  standard. 

During  1890-91  two  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  faculty  passed 
away.  Drs.  Alex.  B.  Mott  and  Isaac  E.  Taylor  had  both  been 
professorially  associated  with  the  College  from  its  inception,  in 
1861,  the  latter  having  also  been  president  since  its  organization. 
Dr.  William  T.  Lusk,  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and  Diseases  of 
Women  and  Children  and  Clinical  Midwifery,  succeeded  Dr.  Tay- 
lor in  the  presidency,  just  as  he  had  succeeded  him  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Obstetrics  when  Dr.  Taylor  became  emeritus  professor. 

In  1892,  Prof.  A.  Alex.  Smith,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and 
Therapeutics  and  Clinical  Medicine,  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of 
Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine  and  Clinical  IMedicine,  for- 
merly held  by  Prof.  Ed.  G.  Janeway ;  and  Dr.  Herman  M.  Biggs, 
Demonstrator  of  Anatomy,  assumed  the  responsibilities  of  the 
chairs  of  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics,  Pathological  Anatomy, 
and  Clinical  Medicine. 


BELLEVUE  HOSPITAL  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  487 


In  1893  the  State  of  New  York  enacted  even  more  stringent 
requirements  for  graduation,  and  during  the  next  two  sessions  the 
enrollments  continued  to  hold  discouragingly  at  about  four  hundred. 
The  session  of  1895-96,  with  its  register  of  461  students,  gave 
indication  that  the  new  standard  could  not  more  than  temporarily 
affect  the  enrollments,  and  during  the  session  of  1896-97  the  at- 
tendance was  abnormal,  713  students  taking  the  course.  There  was 
a  particular  explanation  of  this  considerable  increase,  the  circular 
of  that  year  announcing  that  that  would  be  the  last  year  of  the 
three-year  standard;  that  the  following  session,  1897-98,  would 
usher  in  a  higher  standard,  in  which  the  requirements  for  gradu- 
ation would  entail  attendance  at  four  courses  of  lectures,  and  cer- 
tificates for  four  years'  study  of  medicine. 

In  1897  was  begun  the  construction  of  a  new  building  on  the 
corner  of  First  avenue  and  Twenty-sixth  street,  opposite  Bellevue 
Hospital,  adjoining  and  connected  with  the  Carnegie  Laboratory. 
The  winter  session  of  1897-98  began  in  the  old  college  building, 
and  was  the  first  of  the  four-year  system ;  that,  in  addition  to  the 
lengthening  of  the  session  from  twenty-six  to  thirty-two  weeks, 
appreciably  enhanced  the  standing  of  the  College,  and  the  faculty 
looked  forward  to  the  future  with  confidence.  But  as  the  session 
neared  its  end,  the  building  was  partially  destroyed  by  fire,  and 
accommodation  in  the  adjacent  New  York  University  Medical  Col- 
lege building  was  extended  to  the  Bellevue  authorities.  This  led 
to  important  results  to  both  institutions;  it  suggested  the  merger 
of  the  two  medical  schools,  a  suggestion  furthered  by  the  action 
of  the  Chancellor  of  New  York  University,  who  asked  Dr.  John  P. 
Munn,  an  alumnus  of  Bellevue,  to  introduce  the  subject  to  the 
faculty  of  Bellevue  College.  After  much  discussion,  and  the  sur- 
mounting of  seemingly  serious  hindrances  to  the  union,  the  amal- 
gamation was  consummated. 

The  first  winter  session  of  the  consolidated  college  began  Octo- 
ber 1,  1898,  in  the  new  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College  build- 
ing, and  although  the  teaching  staff  of  the  new  combined  college, 
which  was  thereafter  to  be  known  as  the  ' '  University  and  Bellevue 
Hospital  Medical  College,"  embraced  the  majority  of  the  faculty 
and  instructors  of  Bellevue,  it  is  historically  important  here  to 
record  in  full  the  constitution  of  the  teaching  staff  of  Bellevue 
Hospital  Medical  College  for  the  last  session,  1897-98,  of  its  indi- 
vidual operation.    It  consisted  of: 


488 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Lewis  A.  Sayre,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Orthopedic  and  Clinical  Surgery ; 
Edward  G.  Janeway,  Professor  of  Medicine,  and  President  of  Faculty; 
Austin  Flint,  Professor  of  Physiology,  and  Secretary  of  Faculty;  A.  Alex. 
Smith,  Professor  of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine,  and  Clinical 
Medicine,  with  Robert  J.  Carlisle,  as  Chief  of  Clinic;  Hermann  J.  Biggs, 
M.D.,  Professor  of  Therapeutics  and  Clinical  Medicine,  and  Adjunct  Pro- 
fessor of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine,  with  J.  H.  Huddleston, 
as  Chief  of  Clinic ;  Frederic  S.  Dennis,  Professor  of .  the  Principles 
and  Practice  of  Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery;  Joseph  D.  Bryant,  Pro- 
fessor of  Practical  Surgery,  Operative  and  Clinical  Surgery,  with  Wm.  C. 
Lusk,  as  Chief  of  Clinic;  Austin  Flint,  Jr.,  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and 
Clinical  Midwifery;  Geo.  D.  Stewart,  Professor  of  Anatomy;  Charles  L. 
Dana,  Professor  of  the  Diseases  of  the  Nervous  System;  Henry  C.  Coe, 
Clinical  Professor  of  Gynecology,  with  Wm.  E.  Studdiford,  as  Chief  of 
Clinic;  William  P.  Northup,  Professor  of  Pediatrics,  with  Rowland  G. 
Freeman,  Chief  of  Clinic;  Henry  H.  Rusby,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica 
and  Pharmacology;  Samuel  Alexander,  Professor  of  Genito-Urinary  Sur- 
gery, with  0.  D.  F.  Robertson,  as  Chief  of  Clinic;  John  A.  Fordyce,  Pro- 
fessor of  Dermatology  and  Syphilology;  Henry  D.  Noyes,  Professor  of 
Ophthalmology;  John  E.  Weeks,  Lecturer  on  Ophthalmology;  Ed.  B. 
Dench,  Professor  of  Otology;  Reginald  H.  Sayre,  Lecturer  on  Orthopedic 
Surgery;  Carlos  F.  Macdonald,  Professor  of  Mental  Diseases  and  Medical 
Jurisprudence;  Beverley  Robinson,  Clinical  Professor  of  Medicine; 
Francke  H.  Bosworth,  Professor  of  Diseases  of  the  Throat;  Edward  K. 
Dunham,  Professor  of  General  Pathology,  Bacteriology,  and  Hygiene; 
D.  Hunter  McAlpin,  Jr.,  Professor  of  Gross  Pathology  and  Clinical  Regis- 
trar; John  A.  Mandel,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Physiological  Chemistry; 
William  H.  Park,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Bacteriology  and  Hygiene;  George 
P.  Biggs,  Lecturer  on  Special  Pathology;  John  F.  Erdmann,  Professor  of 
Practical  Anatomy,  with  William  C.  Lusk,  R.  Harcourt  Anderson,  H.  F. 
Quackenbos,  Demonstrators  of  Anatomy;  R.  Kalish  and  W.  N.  Berkeley, 
Assistants  to  the  Chair  of  Principles  and  Practices  of  Medicine;  H.  M. 
Archer,  Assistant  to  Chair  of  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery;  William 
C.  Lusk,  Assistant  in  Practical  Surgery  and  Operative  Surgery ;  George  P. 
Biggs  and  W.  J.  Pulley,  Assistants  in  Therapeutics;  H.  A.  Haubold, 
Assistant  in  Physiology;  C.  B.  Slade,  Prosector  to  the  Department  of 
Anatomy;  H.  A.  Purdy  and  D.  Bovaird,  Assistants  in  Pediatrics;  W. 
Ayers,  Assistant  in  Genito-Urinary  Surgery;  0.  H.  Holder,  Assistant  in 
Dermatology  and  Syphilology;  J.  F.  McKiernon,  Assistant  to  Chair  of 
Otology;  W.  J.  Fumess,  Assistant  in  Mental  Diseases;  E.  H.  Griffin  and 
H.  Brooks,  Instructors  in  the  Carnegie  Laboratory. 


CHAPTER  IV 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BUFFALO  DEPARTMENT  OF  MEDICINE 

IT  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  comparing  the  achievement  of 
Buffalo  University  with  that  of  other  universities  and  colleges, 
during  the  war  of  1812-1814  Buffalo  was  literally  burned  to  the 
ground,  but  one  house  remaining  when  the  British  and  Indians 
withdrew.  That  a  little  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  later  a  com- 
munity had  there  gathered  with  an  ambition  to  take  its  place  among 
cities  as  an  educational  center,  speaks  volumes  for  the  men  Buffalo 
produced  or  attracted  to  her  borders. 

On  May  11,  1846,  a  charter  was  granted  the  University  of  Buf- 
falo by  the  State  of  New  York,  chiefly  through  the  exertions  of 
Nathan  K.  Hall.  The  first  governing  body,  The  Council,  presents 
a  list  of  names  which  shows  how  admirably  the  undertaking  was 
supported  by  the  most  representative  citizens.  The  office  of  Chan- 
cellor was  given  very  naturally  to  Millard  Fillmore,  who  held  it 
until  his  death  in  1874,  not  resigning  it  during  his  tenure  of  office 
as  President  of  the  United  States.  Judge  George  W.  Clinton  was 
president  of  the  Council  until  1856,  when  he  moved  to  Albany, 
having  been  elected  Regent  of  the  State  University.  Joseph  G. 
Masten,  who  succeeded  Judge  Clinton  as  mayor  of  Buffalo,  was 
one  of  the  original  Council ;  so  was  Elbridge  G.  Spaulding,  whose 
Civil  War  record  as  congressman  and  financier  commends  him  to 
all.  George  R.  Babcock  was  also  a  ''founder,"  and  it  was  on  the 
site  of  Mr.  Babcock 's  home  that  the  Woman's  Educational  and 
Industrial  Union  building  was  erected,  that  being  the  first  impor- 
tant gift  to  the  University  to  aid  in  the  foundation  of  an  art 
department.  Orsinus  H.  Marshall,  who  succeeded  Millard  Fillmore 
as  Chancellor,  was  a  member  of  the  first  Council,  and  to  him  Buf- 
falo owes  a  debt  for  the  part  he  took  in  founding  the  University, 
the  Historical  Society,  and  the  Grosvenor  Library.  Nathan  K. 
Hall,  a  federal  judge,  and  Postmaster-General  in  the  cabinet  of  his 
friend,  President  Fillmore;  James  O.  Putnam,  diplomat  and  legis- 
lator; William  A.  Bird,  surveyor  of  the  United  States-Canada 

489 


490 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


boundary  line;  Garus  B.  Rich,  a  banker;  Dr.  Thomas  M.  Foote, 
as  distinguished  in  literature  as  in  medicine;  Ira  A.  Blossom, 
Isaac  Sherman,  State  Senator  and  Congressman — these  and  other 
men  of  note  formed  the  first  Council,  including  Dr.  James  P. 
White,  representing  the  medical  faculty. 

As  for  forty  years  (1846-1886)  the  Department  of  Medicine  was 
the  only  organized  department  of  the  University  of  Buffalo,  the 
first  Council  is  of  prime  importance  in  a  history  of  medicine  in 
New  York  State.  They  were  the  men  who  on  August  25,  1846, 
appointed  the  Faculty  of  Medicine,  that  being  also  the  year  which 
witnessed  the  first  demonstration  of  the  possibility  of  alleviating 
pain  during  surgical  operation.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the 
members  of  the  first  Council  with  their  length  of  service :  Millard 
Fillmore,  1846-74,  first  Chancellor;  Geo.  W.  Clinton,  1846-56, 
President  of  Council;  Ira  A.  Blossom,  1846-57;  Thos.  M.  Foote, 
1846-51 ;  Jos.  G.  Masten,  1846-56  (not  certain)  ;  Isaac  Sherman, 
1846-57  (not  certain);  Gains  B.  Rich,  1846-57;  Wm.  A.  Bird, 
1846-53;  Geo.  R.  Babcock,  1846-76;  Nathan  K.  Hall,  1846-70; 
James  S.  Wadsworth,  1846-50 ;  Theodotus  Burwell,  1846-57 ;  John 
D.  Shepard,  1846-55 ;  Hiram  A.  Tucker,  1846-49 ;  Orsamus  H.  Mar- 
shall, 1846-84,  second  Chancellor ;  Orson  Phelps,  1846-56 ;  Elbridge 
G.  Spaulding,  1846-97 ;  Jas.  P.  White,  1846-82,  from  Medical  Fac- 
ulty;  James  0.  Putnam,  1846-62, 1877-1902,  fourth  Chancellor.  No 
time  was  lost  by  the  Council  in  establishing  the  Faculty  of  Med- 
icine, which  on  August  25,  1846,  was  done  by  the  appointment  of 
the  following  professors:  Charles  Brodhead  Coventry,  Physiology 
and  Medical  Jurisprudence;  Charles  Alfred  Lee,  Pathology  and 
Materia  Medica;  James  Webster,  General  and  Special  Anatomy; 
James  P.  White,  Obstetrics  and  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children ; 
Frank  Hastings  Hamilton,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery  and 
Clinical  Surgery ;  Austin  Flint,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine 
and  Clinical  Medicine ;  George  Hadley,  Chemistry  and  Pharmacy ; 
Corydon  La  Ford,  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy,  and  librarian.  Doc- 
tors Coventry,  Hadley,  Webster,  Lee,  and  Hamilton  also  held  chairs 
in  the  Geneva  Medical  College,  an  institution  which  had  an  honor- 
able career  for  a  number  of  years,  but  on  account  of  its  location 
in  a  small  town  could  not  successfully  compete  with  schools  in 
such  centers  of  population  as  Albany  and  Buffalo ;  and  in  1872  the 
Geneva  College  became  the  Medical  Department  of  Syracuse  Uni- 
versity.  It  had  been  established  in  1834  by  a  faculty  largely  aug- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BUFFALO  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  491 


mented  by  the  retiring  professors  of  the  defunct  Fairfield  Medical 
School,  chartered  in  1812.  The  sessions  at  Geneva  being  held  in 
the  early  part  of  the  winter,  the  majority  of  the  Buffalo  Faculty 
could  not  assume  their  duties  until  later,  so  that  for  several  years 
lecturers  were  giving  the  same  course  twice  in  the  same  winter 
at  different  institutions.  Naturally  the  question  of  accommodating 
students  came  next  after  the  election  of  a  Faculty,  and  for  the  first 
few  sessions,  lacking  a  building  of  its  own,  the  College  held  its 
lectures  in  the  old  First  Baptist  Church,  at  the  comer  of  Wash- 
ington and  Seneca  streets. 

Unfortunately,  the  first  minute  book  of  the  Council,  recording 
its  transactions  from  1846  to  1855,  has  been  lost,  so  that  practically 
the  only  events  occurring  during  those  years  which  are  of  certain 
knowledge  are  to  be  found  in  newspaper  reports.  The  Council 
for  many  years  held  only  annual  meetings,  chiefly  to  confer  degrees. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  details  of  the  erection  of  the 
first  college  building,  but  there  is  an  excellent  description  of  the 
building,  together  with  the  work  of  the  college  at  that  time,  in  the 
Commercial  Advertiser  of  September  8,  1849.  The  remarks  there 
recorded  indicate  that  the  edifice  was  well  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  medical  education  of  those  days,  and  particular  comment  is 
made  upon  the  dissecting  room,  which,  in  spaciousness  and  adap- 
tion to  its  objects,  was  regarded  as  unsurpassed  in  the  whole  coun- 
try; this,  despite  the  fact  that  the  total  cost  of  building  and  site 
probably  did  not  equal  the  sum  of  $25,000.  The  location  was  a 
favorable  one,  giving  the  College  of  those  days  something  of  the 
facilities  for  clinical  teaching  which  the  present  college  building 
enjoys.  Adjacent  to  the  building  on  Pearl  Place  was  the  hospital 
of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  presenting  the  best  opportunities  in  the 
city  for  clinical  instruction. 

It  is  quite  remarkable  that  the  seven  men  who  constituted  the 
original  Faculty  all  remained  in  active  occupancy  of  their  chairs 
for  the  first  five  years.  Thus  the  plans  and  the  policy  for  the 
College  were  well  crystallized,  and  a  foundation  laid  for  its  con- 
tinuance and  progressive  existence  for  seventy  years,  during  which 
time  it  has  numbered  among  its  professors  many  of  the  men  of 
whom  American  medicine  is  proudest.  The  following  list  includes 
the  names,  with  years  of  access  and  exit,  of  those  who  have  held 
chairs  in  the  permanent  (or,  as  it  was  later  called,  the  Executive) 
Faculty  from  1846  to  1915.   In  that  year  a  far-reaching  organiza- 


492 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


tion  of  the  entire  teaching  methods  took  place,  with  many  changes 
in  the  system  of  instruction  and  administration.  It  was  accord- 
ingly a  new  era  of  the  Colleges  which  began  in  that  year  (1915), 
although  the  changes  which  took  place  were  not  so  much  in  per- 
sonnel as  in  methods:  James  P.  White,  Obstetrics,  1846-81 ;  George 
Hadley,  Chemistry  and  Pharmacy,  1846-51 ;  Chas.  B.  Coventry, 
Physiology,  1846-51 ;  Chas.  A.  Lee,  Materia  Medica,  1846-70 ;  James 
Webster,  Anatomy,  1846-51;  Frank  H.  Hamilton,  Surgery,  1846- 
60;  Austin  Flint,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine,  1846-59; 
James  Hadley,  Chemistry  and  Toxicology,  1851-78;  John  C.  Dal- 
ton,  Physiology,  1851-55 ;  Benjamin  R.  Palmer,  Anatomy,  1851-53 ; 
Edward  M.  Moore,  Surgery,  1852-82 ;  Thomas  F.  Rochester,  Prin- 
ciples and  Practice  of  Medicine,  1853-87 ;  Sanford  B.  Hunt,  Anat- 
omy, 1857-58 ;  Theophilus  Mack,  Materia  Medica,  1857-60 ;  Sanford 
Eastman,  Anatomy,  1859-70;  Austin  Flint,  Jr.,  Physiology,  1859- 
60;  Joshua  R.  Lothrop,  Materia  Medica,  1860-64;  William  H. 
Mason,  Physiology,  1861-86;  Julius  F.  Miner,  Special  Surgery, 
1867-82 ;  Milton  G.  Potter,  Anatomy,  1870-77 ;  S.  M.  Eastman,  Ma- 
teria Medica,  1870-73;  E.  V.  Stoddard,  Materia  Medica,  1873-88; 
Chas.  A.  Doremus,  Chemistry  and  Toxicology,  1878-81;  Charles 
Cary,  Anatomy,  1887-89 ;  Matthew  D.  Mann,  Obstetrics,  1882-1912 ; 
R.  A.  Witthaus,  Chemistry  and  Toxicology,  1882-89 ;  Roswell  Park, 
Surgery,  1883-1914 ;  Julius  Pohlman,  Physiology,  1886-89 ;  Charles 
G.  Stockton,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine;  Charles 
Cary,  Materia  Medica,  1889-99;  Charles  Cary,  Clinical  Medicine, 
1889-1911;  John  Parmenter,  Anatomy,  1890-1904;  Herbert  H. 
Hill,  Chemistry  and  Toxicology,  1890-1910 ;  Eli  H.  Long,  Materia 
and  Therapeutics,  1899-1912;  Frederick  C.  Busch,  Physiology, 
1900-12 ;  Herbert  U.  Williams,  Bacteriology  and  Pathology,  1904 ; 
James  A.  Gibson,  Anatomy,  1905-17;  Francis  C.  Goldsborough, 
Obstetrics,  1910 ;  DeWitt  H.  Sherman,  Materia  Medica,  1912 ;  Fred- 
erick H.  Pratt,  Physiology,  1912. 

Of  several  of  these  the  length  of  their  incumbency  has  been 
quite  remarkable.  Dr.  White  served  thirty-five  years;  Dr.  Thomas 
F.  Rochester,  thirty-four;  Dr.  Moore,  thirty;  Dr.  Park  (who  suc- 
ceeded Dr.  Moore),  thirty-one;  Dr.  Cary  was  in  service  thirty -two 
years;  Dr.  Stockton,  thirty  years. 

The  Medical  Department  has  been  distinguished  in  respect  to  its 
advanced  methods  of  teaching  in  two  important  directions.  As 
early  as  the  fourth  session,  Dr.  James  P.  White  for  the  first  time 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BUFFALO  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  493 


in  this  country  introduced  clinical  midwifery  into  the  college 
curriculum.  This  method  had  been  previously  established  in  Eu- 
rope, but  its  introduction  into  America  caused  severe  criticism.  So 
bitter  and  pointed  an  attack  was  made  upon  Dr.  White  in  the 
newspapers  as  to  lead  to  a  suit  for  libel,  the  result  of  which  was 
the  acquittal  of  the  defendant;  but  the  trial  served  to  vindicate 
Dr.  White  and  his  method  of  teaching.  Dr.  John  C.  Dalton,  Jr., 
elected  to  the  chair  of  physiology  in  1851,  was  the  first  physiologist 
in  America  to  employ  the  method  of  experiment  on  living  animals 
in  his  teachings. 

Dr.  Austin  Flint,  during  his  incumbency  as  Professor  of  Med- 
icine, made  his  noted  observations  upon  typhoid  fever.  His  study 
of  the  epidemic  in  North  Boston,  New  York,  in  1843,  contributed 
greatly  toward  recognition  of  the  nature,  source  and  means  of 
conveyance  of  the  infection  of  this  disease.  Dr.  Julius  F.  Miner, 
Professor  of  Special  Surgery,  in  1869  became  noted  through 
his  advocacy  of  enucleation  of  ovarian  tumors,  a  method  which  has 
been  universally  adopted.  Dr.  Hamilton  achieved  a  national  repu- 
tation as  surgeon,  teacher  and  writer ;  Dr.  Ford  became  one  of  the 
most  noted  anatomists  in  the  country,  holding  until  his  compara- 
tively recent  death  at  an  old  age,  a  professorship  at  the  University 
of  Michigan;  these,  with  Lee,  Webster,  and  Coventry,  all  helped 
to  make  the  first  Faculty  a  group  distinguished  for  intellect. 

As  time  went  on,  these  men  came  to  be  assisted  by  young  prac- 
titioners whom  they  had  trained,  and  the  fact  that  such  physicians 
as  M.  B.  Folwell,  D.  W.  Harrington,  and  William  C.  Phelps  were 
members  of  the  staff  without  holding  chairs  on  the  permanent 
Faculty  does  not,  of  course,  free  the  historian  from  neglecting  to 
mention  their  teaching  abilities  or  their  aid  to  the  young  College. 

In  the  improvement  of  medical  education,  the  College  has  been 
in  the  front  rank  in  enlarging  its  curriculum  and  adding  to  its 
corps  of  teachers.  It  was  one  of  the  first  institutions  to  favor  a 
separation  of  the  teaching  and  licensing  authority.  While  the 
proposition  failed  of  adoption  at  the  time,  it  placed  the  College 
upon  record,  and  it  remained  for  one  of  its  alumni  and  teachers. 
Dr.  H.  R.  Hopkins,  aided  by  Prof.  M.  D.  Mann  and  Dr.  A.  R. 
Davidson,  also  an  alumnus,  to  secure  in  1883  the  formulation  of 
a  bill  by  the  Medical  Society  of  the  county  of  Erie,  which,  after 
due  consideration  by  the  State  Medical  Society,  was  presented  to 
the  Legislature  and,  after  repeated  defeats  and  amendments,  be- 


494 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


came  a  law  in  1890,  creating  licensing  bodies  that  should  be  abso- 
lutely separate  and  distinct  from  the  teaching  faculties. 

Beginning  with  1856,  the  Council  meetings  assumed  more  impor- 
tance and  interest  than  the  merely  routine  work  of  their  previous 
gatherings.  In  that  year  it  suffered  the  loss  of  Judge  Clinton, 
his  place  being  taken  by  Dr.  George  Hadley.  Mr.  Marshall  suc- 
ceeded to  the  position  of  president  of  the  Council  made  vacant  by 
Mr.  Clinton's  resignation,  which  meant  his  taking  the  place  of  Mr. 
Fillmore  whenever  the  latter  could  not  represent  the  University, 
leading  naturally  to  his  election  as  Mr.  Fillmore's  successor. 

Several  important  changes  took  place  in  the  Faculty,  Austin 
Flint  being  elected  to  a  new  chair,  that  of  Clinical  Medi(^ne  and 
Pathology,  taking  the  place  of  Dr.  Lee.  Dr.  Edward  M.  Moore 
also  assumed  the  duties  of  a  new  chair  as  Professor  of  Surgical 
Anatomy  and  Pathology.  A  third  new  chair  was  created,  with 
Dr.  Sanford  B.  Hunt  as  Professor  of  Descriptive  Anatomy  and 
Pathology.  In  February  of  1857,  Dr.  Rochester  began  his  first 
service  as  dean,  with  Dr.  Hadley  as  registrar,  a  combination  which 
continued  to  lend  strength  and  dignity  until  1861,  when  Dr. 
Sanford  Eastman  became  dean.  Meanwhile  several  changes  were 
occurring  in  the  membership  of  the  Council,  the  most  important 
of  which  was  perhaps  the  death  of  Dr.  Thomas  M.  Foote,  and  the 
election  as  his  successor  of  Henry  W.  Rogers,  of  the  legal  firm 
which  has  had  perhaps  more  historical  continuity  of  weight  and 
importance  than  any  other  in  Buffalo.  This  firm  has  also  been 
bound  up  intimately  with  the  fortunes  of  the  University,  members 
of  it  serving  either  on  the  Council  or  in  the  Faculty  of  the  Law 
Department. 

In  1859  Dr.  Hunt  resigned  his  chair,  which  was  divided  with 
Dr.  Austin  Flint,  Jr.,  Professor  of  Physiology.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, served  for  one  year,  joining  his  father  in  New  York.  Dur- 
ing these  years  the  graduating  classes  had  been  of  about  the 
same  size,  running  generally  from  twenty  to  thirty  men.  As  the 
sessions  became  longer  and  the  work  more  arduous,  the  students 
naturally  tended  to  become  fewer,  with  a  corresponding  increase  in 
quality. 

In  1855,  fifteen  degrees  were  conferred;  in  1856,  only  seven, 
two  of  which  were  honorary;  in  1857,  fourteen;  in  1858,  nine;  in 
1859,  twelve,  beginning  with  which  year  the  graduating  classes 
commenced  a  satisfactory  and  generally  consistent  increase  in 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BUFFALO  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  495 


numbers.  The  last  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  was 
conferred  in  1879  upon  Charles  A.  Doremus,  who  had  entered  the 
Faculty  not  as  a  practicing  physician  but  as  Professor  of  Chemis- 
try. The  degree  of  M.  D.  as  an  honorary  distinction  has  been  but 
infrequently  granted  by  Buffalo,  as  by  all  American  universities, 
which  have  generally  preferred  to  honor  physicians  of  prestige  by 
giving  them  a  degree  which  they  did  not  already  possess,  such 
as  Doctor  of  Science  or  Doctor  of  Laws.  Yale  honored  Dr.  Park 
with  the  LL.D.  degree.  The  same  honor  has  been  conferred  on 
several  present  members  of  the  faculties,  Charles  B.  Wheeler  re- 
ceiving it  from  Williams  and  John  Lord  0 'Brian  from  Hobart. 

The  first  active  effort  to  bring  to  a  realization  the  fervid  argu- 
ment of  Millard  Fillmore  for  the  addition  of  an  academic  depart- 
ment seems  not  to  have  been  begun  until  1862,  when  two  commit- 
tees of  the  Council  were  appointed  to  consider  the  creation  of 
departments  of  law  and  of  liberal  arts.  Their  reports  apparently 
were  made  orally,  since  there  is  no  record;  but  the  idea  of  Uni- 
versity expansion  received  repeated  impetus  from  then  on.  In 
1868  the  addition  of  a  dental  department  was  discussed  for  the 
first  time  and  the  first  step  actually  taken,  since  it  was  determined 
to  leave  the  organization  of  a  College  of  Dentistry  to  the  Medical 
Faculty,  where  it  rested  for  so  many  years  that  it  was  thought 
to  have  sunk  to  its  final  repose. 

In  1867  Dr.  Julius  F.  Miner  was  elected  Professor  of  Special 
Surgery,  and  three  years  later  was  made  dean,  succeeding  Dr. 
James  Hadley,  who  had  been  promoted  from  registrar  to  dean  in 
1867,  but  returned  to  his  old  position  in  1870.  Dr.  Miner  served 
as  dean  until  1875,  when  Dr.  Milton  G.  Potter  succeeded.  In 
1877  Dr.  Thomas  R.  Rochester,  who  to  his  commanding  personality 
joined  the  sureness  of  diagnosis  and  the  rare  knowledge  and  skill 
in  practice  which  gave  him  a  dominating  position  among  Buffalo's 
medical  men,  was  again  made  dean  of  the  Faculty  as  he  had  been 
dean  of  his  profession  since  Dr.  White's  death,  serving  until  his 
decease  in  1887.  Both  James  Hadley  and  Potter  died  in  1878,  a 
loss  doubly  severe,  necessitating  a  partial  reorganization  of  the 
Faculty.  After  a  short  interval.  Dr.  Hadley  was  succeeded  as 
secretary  of  the  Faculty  by  Charles  Cary,  who  thus  began  in  1879 
a  service  in  many  capacities.  The  same  year  he  began  his  teaching 
as  Professor  of  Anatomy,  but  in  1889  changed  his  chair  to  that  of 
Materia  Medica,  adding  that  of  Clinical  Medicine.    In  1899  he 


496 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


gave  up  the  chair  of  Materia  Medica,  but  continued  as  Professor 
of  Clinical  Medicine  until  1911,  when  he  was  made  Professor 
Emeritus,  a  service  in  active  teaching  totaling  thirty-two  years. 
The  Council  also  elected  him  to  membership  in  1879,  a  connection 
which  he  has  ever  retained,  and  for  many  years  during  the  thirty- 
seven  of  his  membership  he  has  been  the  senior  member,  the  only 
one  to  note  the  expansion  of  the  University  as  each  of  the  other 
five  departments  was  added. 

Nothing  in  the  University's  charter  had  prevented  the  entrance 
of  women  students,  but  no  woman  was  graduated  until  1876,  when 
the  degree  was  conferred  upon  Dr.  Mary  B.  Moody,  now  of  Los 
Angeles,  California,  who  has  retained  a  lively  interest  in  her  alma 
mater  despite  years  and  distance. 

In  1877  the  Council  suffered  several  losses  by  death;  but  the 
places  of  those  who  died,  George  R.  Babcock,  Orlando  Allen,  and 
Joseph  Warren,  were  filled  by  three  men,  two  of  whom,  Messrs. 
Sprague  and  Putnam,  subsequently  became  Chancellors  of  the 
University;  and  the  third  was  David  Gray,  whose  fame  Buffalo 
cherishes  as  editor  and  poet. 

From  1870  to  1890  the  scope  and  method  of  medical  education 
were  so  changed  by  the  rapid  progress  in  medical  science  as  to 
require  extension  of  the  college  course  from  two  years  of  five 
months  each  to  three  years  of  six  months  each.  The  birth  and 
development  of  the  science  of  bacteriology,  the  need  of  more  prac- 
tical training  in  pathology  and  chemistry,  and  of  a  more  accurate 
knowledge  of  anatomy  and  histology,  all  demanded  largely  increased 
facilities  not  only  in  material  equipment  but  in  teaching. 

From  1882  to  1890  the  governing  Faculty  of  the  Medical  De- 
partment was  completely  changed,  not  one  chair  being  occupied 
in  1890  by  the  incumbent  of  nine  years  before.  Six  new  men 
had  been  called  to  Faculty  positions,  and  one  had  been  transferred 
to  another  chair.  During  this  time  also  occurred  an  enlargement 
of  the  teaching  staff  by  the  appointment  of  adjunct,  associate  and 
clinical  professors,  with  assistants  and  instructors  in  the  laboratory 
and  recitation  courses.  A  spring  course  was  in  operation  from  1884 
to  1893.  It  consisted  of  eight  weeks  of  supplementary  and  special 
instruction  given  largely  by  the  members  of  the  adjunct  Faculty. 
It  was  regarded  as  an  excellent  feature,  but  was  superceded  by 
lengthening  the  regular  session  to  seven  months  and  shortly  there- 
after to  nine  months  for  each  of  the  four  years.    The  first  of 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BUFFALO  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  497 

these  changes  in  the  teaching  staff  brought  Matthew  D.  Mann, 
M.A.,  M.D.,  into  the  Faculty  as  Professor  of  Obstetrics,  begin- 
ing  a  connection  which  as  professor  and  later  as  dean  was  to 
give  the  institution  the  impress  of  an  executive  ability  and  a 
rapidly  increasing  reputation  as  surgeon  and  author,  which  did 
not  terminate  with  his  resignation  in  1911,  for  he  has  continued 
as  Professor  Emeritus.  He  became  secretary  of  the  Faculty  in 
1882  and  was  made  dean  in  1887.  In  1882  the  chair  of  chemistry 
was  given  to  Rudolph  A.  Witthaus,  M.A.,  M.D.,  of  New  York, 
taking  the  place  of  Dr.  Doremus,  who  was  called  to  New  York; 
Dr.  Witthaus  died  in  1916,  having  achieved  a  national  reputation. 
If  the  Faculty  was  strengthened  by  these  two  appointments  it 
was  immeasurably  weakened  by  the  death  in  1882  of  Dr.  James 
P.  White,  the  last  of  the  founders,  for  decades  a  tower  of  strength 
to  his  University  and  his  city.  His  place  in  the  Council  was 
taken  by  Sherman  S,  Rogers.  In  the  same  year  Dr.  Rochester 
was  made  Yice-Chancellor  of  the  University,  an  office  purely 
honorary  on  account  of  the  assiduity  and  devotion  of  Mr.  Mar- 
shall. The  next  year  the  chair  of  Surgery  was  made  vacant 
through  the  retirement  of  that  Nestor  of  surgeons  and  unequaled 
teacher,  Edward  M.  Moore,  and  the  disability  of  his  brilliant  col- 
league, Julius  F.  Miner.  In  the  words  of  Dr.  Stockton,  "to  find 
an  adequate  successor  of  these  men  started  a  canvass  of  America, 
for  only  one  having  the  topmost  qualifications  could  hope  to  fill 
the  gap.  An  appeal  to  Chicago  by  Dr.  Rochester  brought  the 
assurance  from  Professor  Moses  Gunn  that  Roswell  Park  stood 
out  as  the  one  whose  ability  would  satisfy  every  need;"  and 
so  in  June,  1883,  he  was  called  from  Rush  Medical  College  to 
become  professor  of  Surgery.  ''His  advent  in  Buffalo  was  oppor- 
tune; it  was  a  transitional  period  from  old  to  new  concepts  in 
pathology  at  the  threshold  of  modern  surgery.  Together  with 
Mann  he  re-educated  the  local  medical  profession  and  advanced 
immeasurably  through  his  sound  pathology,  novel  teaching,  oper- 
ative skill  and  spreading  fame,  the  reputation  of  the  Medical 
School." 

During  all  these  years  the  work  of  the  University  was  rendered 
less  effective  than  the  quality  of  the  teaching  could  warrant,  by 
the  increasingly  inadequate  facilities  of  the  old  building.  The 
Virginia  street  structure  was  in  1889  fifty  years  old.  Built  in 
days  when  medical  instruction  necessitated  but  a  few  months  for 


498 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


satisfactory  completion,  it  now  accommodated  not  only  medical 
students  spending  a  three  years'  course  in  the  building,  but  a 
rapidly  growing  number  of  pharmacy  students  as  well.  Dr. 
Park  brought  the  material  needs  of  the  college  to  the  attention 
of  the  public  in  a  vivid  way,  and  Dr.  Mann  earnestly  seconded 
Dr.  Park's  appeal.  Describing  the  cramped  and  inconvenient 
quarters  at  college  with  the  disheartening  lack  of  facilities,  he 
especially  emphasized  the  need  for  greater  accommodation  for 
clinical  instruction.  Vice-Chancellor  Putnam  said  that  he  con- 
sidered the  request  laid  before  the  Council  eminently  just  and 
proper,  and  one  to  which  a  liberal  public  should  respond,  and  he 
desired  to  know  definitely  whether  the  people  of  Buffalo  cared 
seriously  to  cultivate  anything  higher  than  its  material  interest. 

Mr.  Keating  moved  that  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to 
report  on  the  sale  of  the  present  grounds  and  the  purchase  of  a 
new  lot,  and  Dr.  Park,  Mr.  Gorham,  and  Mr.  Keating  were  ap- 
pointed. On  the  east  side  of  Main  street  (now  comer  of  High 
street)  stood  for  many  years  the  only  dwelling  house  now  in 
existence  with  which  Joseph  Ellicott  is  directly  associated.  This 
was  the  land  which  the  Council  of  the  University  decided  to  pur- 
chase and  utilize  as  the  site  for  the  new  medical  building.  The 
amount  paid  for  the  land  was  $22,275,  probably  a  fair  figure  in 
those  days,  but  certainly  an  excellent  bargain  in  view  of  the 
increased  valuation  of  real  estate  since  then.  There  were  many 
arguments  in  favor  of  this  location,  the  chief  of  which  besides 
its  central  situation,  was  its  proximity  to  the  Buffalo  General 
Hospital,  which  has  always  provided  most  of  the  clinical  facili- 
ties of  the  College.  George  Cary  was  the  architect,  and  the  price 
named  was  not  to  exceed  $125,000.  Several  meetings  of  the  full 
Medical  Faculty,  numbering  at  that  time  a  total  of  over  thirty, 
were  held  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  the  building  committee 
with  the  requirements  of  their  respective  departments,  which  data 
was  then  given  to  the  architect.  The  architect's  final  plans  called 
for  a  building  with  an  irregular  front  of  215  feet,  98  feet  on  the 
west  side  and  78  feet  on  the  east  side,  occupying  in  all  a  surface 
of  12,000  square  feet.  The  greater  part  of  the  building  is  of 
fire-proof  construction,  the  rest  of  so  called  slow-burning  construc- 
tion. The  design  was  to  supply  the  building  with  rooms  of  vary- 
ing character,  and  the  main  amphitheatre,  which,  on  account  of 
the  contributions  of  the  graduates  towards  equipping  and  fur- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BUFFALO  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  499 


nishing  it,  was  named  Alumni  Hall,  has  a  seating  capacity  of 
400.  Two  other  lecture  rooms  have  a  slightly  smaller  capacity, 
while  other  recitation  and  lecture  rooms  are  of  varying  size.  The 
entire  building  contains  no  plaster,  no  partitions  other  than  brick, 
and  the  only  wood  employed  is  oak.  The  money  for  the  erection 
of  the  building  and  the  purchase  of  the  lot  was  raised  for  the 
greater  part  by  popular  subscription,  the  only  important  single 
contribution  being  a  legacy  of  $20,000  from  the  late  Hon.  Jonathan 
Scoville. 

In  1898  was  secured  from  the  Legislature  the  first  appropria- 
tion ever  made  from  public  funds,  either  in  this  country  or  abroad, 
for  the  purpose  of  combating  the  ravages  cancer.  This  money 
was  appropriated  to  the  Medical  Department  of  the  University 
of  Buffalo,  largely  through  the  efforts  of  the  late  Dr.  Roswell 
Park  and  the  late  Edward  H.  Butler.  Professor  Park  became 
director  of  the  Laboratory,  with  Dr.  H.  R.  Gaylord,  as  Patholo- 
gist; G.  H.  A.  Clowes,  Ph.  D.,  as  Biological  Chemist,  and  Prof. 
H.  G.  Matxinger  as  Bacteriologist.  For  the  first  three  years  the 
work  was  carried  on  in  the  College  building,  but  in  1901,  through 
the  generosity  of  Mrs.  W.  H.  Gratwick  and  other  friends,  the 
Gratwick  Laboratory  was  erected — the  first  in  the  world  built, 
equipped,  and  intended  for  this  purpose.  Dr.  Gaylord  was  made 
director  and  the  work  considerably  expanded.  In  1911  Dr.  Park, 
with  the  co-operation  of  Senators  Hill,  Loomis  and  Burd  and  of 
Assemblymen  LaReau,  and  with  the  constant  aid  of  John  Lord 
0 'Brian,  Ansley  Wilcox  and  others,  succeeded  in  raising  the  lab- 
oratory to  the  dignity  of  a  State  institution.  A  number  of  citi- 
zens contributed  toward  the  purchase  of  the  property,  which 
was  donated  to  the  State  to  be  utilized  as  the  site  for  a  hospital 
adjoining  the  Gratwick  Laboratory  on  High  street.  The  building 
represented  an  outlay  on  the  part  of  the  State  of  $140,000,  the 
land  being  valued  at  $21,000.  The  new  Hospital  was  dedicated 
November  1,  1913,  with  exercises  held  in  Alumni  Hall  of  the  med- 
ical building.  Addresses  were  made  by  Dr.  Park,  chairman  of 
the  board  of  trustees;  Hon.  Charles  S.  Fairchild,  a  trustee;  and 
Dr.  James  Ewing,  Professor  of  Pathology  at  Cornell  Medical 
School. 

The  Medical  Department  of  Niagara  University  has  been  men- 
tioned previously  in  this  sketch,  and  the  fact  should  perhaps  have 
been  brought  out  that  since  1883  the  University  of  Buffalo  has  been 


500 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


stimulated  to  greater  efforts  in  its  medical  instruction  by  the 
active  presence  of  another  school,  including  in  its  Faculty  a  con- 
siderable number  of  the  city's  most  prominent  practitioners  and 
ablest  teachers.  In  many  ways,  indeed,  particularly  in  its  higher 
entrance  requirements,  the  school  had  pressed  hard  on  the  heels 
of  the  older  institution.  The  friendly  rivalry  was  undoubtedly 
as  much  of  a  help  to  both  as  of  a  detriment,  but  it  gradually 
came  to  be  realized  that  there  was  an  unnecessary  duplication  of 
energy.  Dr.  Floyd  S.  Crego  of  the  Niagara  Faculty  and  Dr. 
Stockton  of  the  Buffalo  Faculty  were  those  who  conceived  and 
helped  most  energetically  to  bring  about  the  union.  In  1898,  when 
the  student  enrollment  at  Niagara  was  only  forty,  the  time  had 
come  for  amalgamation.  Most  of  the  members  of  the  Niagara 
Faculty  were  received  into  the  associate  Faculty  of  the  other, 
and  among  the  important  accessions  thus  made  were:  Earl  P. 
Lothrop,  Adjunct  Clinical  Professor  of  Obstetrics;  the  late  Her- 
man Mynter,  Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery;  Henry  C.  Bushell, 
Adjunct  Professor  of  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine;  the 
late  Eugene  A.  Smith,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery; 
W.  Scott  Renner,  Clinical  Professor  of  Laryngology;  Floyd  S. 
Crego,  Professor  of  Neurology;  Alfred  E.  Diehl,  Adjunct  Clinical 
Professor  of  Dermatology;  the  late  Carlton  C.  Frederick,  Clinical 
Professor  of  Gynecology,  and  the  late  Walter  D.  Green,  Clinical 
Professor  of  Genito-urinary  Diseases.  Of  the  above,  Drs.  Bushell, 
Renner  and  Diehl  are  still  members  of  the  Faculty. 

Mention  should  be  made  of  the  growth  of  the  Medical  Alumni 
Association  with  which  medical  graduates  of  Niagara  now  become 
identified.  The  constitution  of  the  association  specifies  that  all 
graduates  automatically  become  members  at  time  of  gradua- 
tion. In  January,  1875,  under  the  leadership  of  the  loyal  younger 
alumni,  Edward  N.  Brush,  74,  Alfred  H.  Briggs,  71,  Henry  R. 
Hopkins,  '67,  and  Peter  W.  Van  Peyma,  '72,  the  association  was 
formally  organized,  and  held  its  forty-second  annual  meeting 
during  the  commencement  week  of  1917.  Niagara  University  had 
conferred  the  M.D.  degree  on  137  of  its  graduates,  most  of 
whom  have  since  1898  been  actively  identified  with  the  University 
of  Buffalo  Alumni  Association.  This  spirit  of  harmony  goes  to 
show  the  Niagarans'  approval  of  the  amalgamation,  the  chief 
advantages  of  which  was  to  place  at  the  disposal  of  one  school 
all  of  the  available  clinical  material  of  the  city. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BUFFALO  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  501 


In  1913  the  freshman  medical  class  numbered  ninety-four.  Dr. 
Herbert  U.  Williams,  Professor  of  Pathology,  succeeded  Dr.  Mann 
as  dean  of  the  Medical  College,  and  to  him  is  due  a  large  share 
of  the  credit  for  the  successful  inauguration  in  the  summer  of 
1913,  of  the  courses  in  arts  and  science.  In  the  Medical  Faculty, 
Drs.  Mann,  Long,  and  Busch  resigned  their  chairs  of  Obstetrics, 
Materia  Medica,  and  Physiology,  respectively ;  and  to  succeed  two 
of  them,  teachers  who  had  achieved  reputations  outside  Buffalo 
were  called  to  the  Faculty:  Frederick  H.  Pratt,  M.A.,  M.D., 
of  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  was  made  Professor  of  Physiol- 
ogy; and  Francis  C.  Goldsborough,  B.S.,  M.D.,  of  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  became  Professor  of  Obstetrics.  DeWitt  H.  Sherman, 
B.A.,  M.D.,  was  made  Professor  of  Materia  Medica.  The  retire- 
ment of  Dr.  Frederick  C.  Busch  as  Professor  of  Physiology  was 
necessitated  by  ill  health,  and  his  untimely  death  in  1914  was  a 
grievous  loss  alike  to  the  medical  and  teaching  professions.  In 
1910  Dr.  James  A.  Gibson  had  been  elected  Professor  of  Anatomy, 
continuing  a  connection  of  many  years,  and  he  was  made  secre- 
tary and  treasurer  of  the  College  in  1912,  succeeding  Dr.  Long. 

The  year  1914  brought  generous  loss  to  the  Medical  department 
and  to  the  entire  University,  an  ardent  champion  and  earnest 
advocate  passing  to  his  reward  on  February  16,  when  Dr.  Park, 
Professor  of  Surgery,  died.  His  chair  was  not  filled  until  1917, 
when  his  associate,  Edgar  R.  McGuire,  1900,  for  several  years 
associate  professor,  was  elected  full  professor. 

In  the  summer  of  1915  the  system  of  governing  the  Medical 
College,  practically  the  same  as  had  been  in  operation  since  the 
beginning,  was  completely  modified.  Instead  of  an  Executive 
Faculty  of  a  few  members  with  rather  autocratic  powers  of  nomi- 
nation to  the  general  Faculty,  the  new  organization  vested  the 
control  in  an  administration  board  of  ten  members,  and  a  board  of 
instruction  of  twelve.  The  first  administrative  board  under  the 
new  regime  was  composed  of:  Thomas  H.  McKee;  Herbert  U. 
Williams;  Charles  G.  Stockton;  Grover  W.  Wende;  Francis  C. 
Goldsborough;  DeWitt  H.  Sherman,  James  A.  Gibson;  Nelson  G. 
Russell ;  Frederick  H.  Pratt ;  and  Arthur  G.  Bennett.  The  board 
is  renewed  every  five  years  by  two  annual  retirements  and  elec- 
tions. The  first  board  of  instruction  consisted  of:  Delancey 
Rochester,  Associate  Professor  of  Medicine,  chairman;  John  L. 
Butsch,  Assistant  Professor  of  Pharmacology,  secretary;  Her- 


502 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


bert  U.  Williams,  Professor  of  Pathology  and  Bacteriology;  Al- 
bert P.  Sy,  Professor  of  Chemistry;  James  W.  Putnam,  Profes- 
sor of  Neurology;  W.  Ward  Plummer,  Assistant  Professor  of 
Orthopedics;  Grover  W.  Wende,  Professor  of  Dermatology;  Ar- 
thur G.  Bennett,  Assistant  Professor  of  Opthalmology ;  James  A. 
Gibson,  Professor  of  Anatomy;  Charles  A.  Bentz,  Associate  in 
Embryology;  Frederick  H.  Pratt,  Professor  of  Physiology;  and 
Francis  C.  Goldsborough,  Professor  of  Obstetrics.  Dr.  Williams 
retired  as  dean  in  order  to  devote  more  time  to  his  teaching  work, 
and  his  place  was  taken  by  Dr.  Thomas  H.  McKee,  '08,  who 
entered  thoroughly  into  the  spirit  of  the  new  regime.  In  the 
Dental  Faculty,  Dr.  Abram  Hoffman  was  elected  Professor  of 
Prosthetic  Dentistry;  Dr.  John  0.  McCall,  Professor  of  Chem- 
istry (transferred  in  1917  to  the  professorship  of  oral  hygiene), 
and  Dr.  Thomas  0.  Hicks,  Professor  of  Histology  and  Embry- 
ology. 

While  for  forty  years  the  Medical  department  was  the  Univer- 
sity of  Buffalo,  in  fact  other  departments  have  been  added,  the 
statistics  of  the  University  for  1916-17  showing  an  enrollment 
of  1,054  students  as  follows:  Medicine,  107  in  Faculty,  206  Stu- 
dents; Pharmacy,  13  in  Faculty,  120  Students;  Law,  24  in  Fac- 
ulty, 147  Students;  Dentistry,  42  in  Faculty,  285  Students;  An- 
alytical Chemistry,  12  in  Faculty,  57  Students ;  Arts  and  Sciences, 
21  in  Faculty,  239  Students ;  Total,  219  in  Faculty,  1,054  Students. 

The  men  and  women  who  have  been  recipients  of  degrees  from 
this  University  (1846-1917)  number  the  surprising  total  of  5,825, 
divided  as  follows:  Doctor  of  Medicine,  2,935,  including  10  hon- 
orary; Graduate  in  Pharmacy,  638,  including  3  honorary;  Bache- 
lor of  Pharmacy,  353 ;  Master  of  Pharmacy,  26,  including  1  hon- 
orary ;  Doctor  of  Pharmacy,  6 ;  Analytical  Chemist,  89 ;  Pharma- 
ceutical Chemist,  3;  Bachelor  of  Laws,  710;  Master  of  Laws,  12; 
Doctor  of  Dental  Surgery,  1,043 ;  Bachelor  of  Pedagogy,  5 ;  Master 
of  Pedagogy,  1 ;  Doctor  of  Pedagogy,  2 ;  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  1 ; 
Bachelor  of  Science,  1  (honorary). 

The  above  figures  show  that  slightly  over  one-half  the  degrees 
conferred  by  the  University  have  been  that  of  M.D.  Instruction 
in  the  department  covers  thirty  teaching  weeks  divided  into 
three  terms  of  approximately  eleven  weeks  each.  The  following 
lists  give  the  membership  of  the  governing  bodies,  professors  full, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BUFFALO  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  503 


associate,  assistant,  clinical  and  adjunct,  for  the  college  year  end- 
ing June  2,  1916: 

Medical  Administration — Thomas  H.  McKee,  Dean;  James  A.  Gibson, 
Sec^y  and  Treas. 

Administrative  Board — Thomas  H.  McKee,  1917;  Chas.  G.  Stockton, 
1918;  Herbert  U.  Williams,  1920;  Jas.  A.  Gibson,  1920;  Francis  C.  Golds- 
borough,  1919;  DeWitt  H.  Sherman,  1918;  Frederick  H.  Pratt,  1919; 
Grover  W.  Wende,  1917;  Arthur  G.  Bennett,  1916;  Nelson  G. 
Russell,  1916.   ^ 

Board  of  Instruction — DeLancey  Rochester,  chairman;  John  L.  Butsch, 
sec^y;  Arthur  G.  Bennett,  Chas.  A.  Bentz,  James  A.  Gibson,  Francis  C. 
Goldsborough,  Edgar  R.  McGuire,  Frederick  H.  Pratt,  James  W.  Putnam, 
Albert  P.  Sy,  Grover  W.  Wende,  Herbert  U.  Williams. 

Standing  Committee  of  Faculty — Alumni:  L.  Kauffman,  chairman; 
Athletics:  W.  Ralph,  chairman;  Auditing:  J.  S.  Otto,  chairman;  Build- 
ings: J.  A.  Gibson,  chairman;  W.  F.  Jacobs,  J.  Richter,  C.  C.  Cott,  H. 
W.  Cowper,  F.  C.  Goldsborough,  A.  P.  Sy,  W.  Ralph,  J.  L.  Butsch,  J.  C. 
Sullivan;  College  Events:  J.  A.  Gibson,  chairman;  H.  R.  Trick,  H.  Mead, 
W.  Ralph;  Dispensaries:  D.  C.  McKenney,  chairman;  N.  G.  Russell, 
W.  S.  Goodale,  L.  Howe,  W.  S.  Renner,  J.  D.  Flagg;  Endowment:  P.  W. 
Van  Peyma,  chairman;  J.  Ullman,  J.  Spangenthal,  M.  Clinton,  L.  Kauff- 
man,  I.  W.  Snow,  G.  W.  Wende,  H.  G.  Russell,  L.  M.  Francis,  G.  F. 
Cott;  Hospitals:  W.  W.  Plummer,  chairman;  W.  S.  Doodale,  M.  Clinton, 
F.  W.  McGuire,  DeW.  H.  Sherman,  E.  G.  Starr,  I.  W.  Potter,  T.  J. 
Walsh;  Library:  1.  P.  Lyon,  chairman;  F.  H.  Pratt;  R.  F.  Morgan, 
Consulting  Librarian;  J.  L.  Butsch;  Nominations:  A.  G.  Bennett,  chair- 
man; C.  G.  Stockton,  A.  P.  Sy,  F.  L.  Parmenter;  Organization:  F.  H. 
Pratt,  chairman;  F.  L.  Parmenter,  H.  M.  Weed;  Pedagogy:  N.  L. 
Bumham,  chairman;  T.  H.  McKee,  H.  A.  Smith;  Public  Instruction: 
H.  G.  Matzinger,  chairman;  W.  F.  Jacobs,  G.  J.  Eckel;  Publications: 
F.  H.  Pratt,  chairman;  L.  Kauffman,  H.  J.  Mulford;  Publicity:  A.  P.  Sy; 
Research:  H.  U.  Williams,  chairman;  F.  H.  Pratt,  E.  R.  McGuire,  J.  L. 
Butsch;  State  Boards:  A.  P.  Sy,  chairman;  H.  U.  Williams,  A.  A.  Jones, 
C.  A.  Bentz;  Student  Welfare:  T.  M.  Leonard,  chairman;  J.  A.  Gibson, 
T.  Weight,  Edith  R.  Hatch,  K.  F.  Eschelman. 

Faculty  of  Medicine,  Emeritus  Professors — Matthew  D.  Mann,  Emeri- 
tus Professor  of  Obstetrics  and  Gynecology;  Henry  R.  Hopkins,  Emeritus 
Professor  of  Hygiene ;  Charles  Cary,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Clinical  Medi- 
cine; EH  H.  Lomg,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Thera- 
peutics; Lucien  Howe,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Opthalmology ;  Bernard 
Bartown,  Emeritus  Clinical  Professor  of  Orthopedic  Surgery;  Peter  W. 
Van  Peyma,  Emeritus  Clinical  Professor  of  Obstetrics. 

Professors — Charles  G.  Stockton,  Professor  of  Principles  and  Prac- 
tice of  Medicine  and  Clinical  Medicine;  DeLancey  Rochester,  Professor 
of  Medicine;  Herbert  U.  Williams,  Professor  of  Pathology  and  Bac- 
teriology, Curator  of  Museum;  Grover  W.  Wende,  Professor  of  Derma- 


504 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


tology  and  Syphilology;  James  A.  Gibson,  Professor  of  Anatomy;  Albert 
P.  Sy,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Toxicology;  Francis  C.  Goldsbor- 
ough,  Professor  of  Obstetrics;  DeWitt  H.  Sherman,  Professor  of  Materia 
Medica  and  Therapeutics,  Clinical  Professor  of  Pediatrics;  Frederick  H. 
Pratt,  Professor  of  Physiology;  Irving  M.  Snow,  Professor  of  Pediatrics; 
James  W.  Putnam,  Professor  of  Neurology;  Elmer  G.  Starr,  Professor 
of  Ophthalmology;  Herman  G.  Matzinger,  Professor  of  Psychiatrics;  John 
Lord  O'Brian,  Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence;  Allen  A.  Jones,  Asso- 
ciate Professor  of  Medicine;  Marshall  Clinton,  Associate  Professor  of 
Surgery;  Edgar  R.  McGuire,  Associate  Professor  of  Surgery;  James  E. 
King,  Clinical  Professor  of  Gynecology;  Walter  D.  Greene,  Clinical  Pro- 
fessor of  Genito-Urinary  Surgery;  W.  Scott  Renner,  Clinical  Professor 
of  Laryngology;  Alfred  E.  Diehl,  Clinical  Professor  of  Dermatology; 
Geo.  F.  Cott,  Clinical  Professor  of  Laryngology  and  Otology;  Henry 
C.  Buswell,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Medicine;  Edward  J.  Meyer,  Adjunct 
Professor  of  Surgery;  Nelson  G.  Russell,  Assistant  Professor  of  Medi- 
cine; Irving  Phillips  Lyon,  Assistant  Professor  of  Medicine;  Jacob  S. 
Otto,  Assistant  Professor  of  Therapeutics;  Albert  E.  Woegnert,  Assistant 
Professor  of  Medicine;  Wm.  Ward  Plummer,  Assistant  Professor  of 
Orthopedics  and  Radiology;  John  L.  Butsch,  Assistant  Professor  of 
Ophthalmology. 

Associates — Lee  Masten  Francis,  Associate  in  Ophthalmology;  Harry 
Mead,  Associate  in  Medicine;  Thomas  H.  McKee,  F.  A.  C.  S.,  Associate 
in  Surgery;  Lesser  Kauffman,  Associate  in  Neurology;  Charles  Sumner 
Jones,  Associate  in  Pediatrics;  Charles  A.  Bentz,  Associate  in  Embryology 
and  Instructor  in  Hygiene;  Henry  J.  Mulford,  Associate  in  Laryngology; 
Norman  L.  Burnham,  Associate  in  Medicine;  Frederick  J.  Parmenter, 
Associate  in  Genito-Urinary  Surgery;  Thew  Wright,  Associate  in  Sur- 
gery; Harry  M.  Weed,  Associate  in  Anatomy;  Carl  S.  Tompkins,  Asso- 
ciate in  Clinical  Pathology;  Thomas  B.  Carpenter,  Associate  in  Genito- 
Urinary  Surgery. 

Instructors — Julius  Ullman,  Lecturer  on  Medicine;  Nathalie  K.  Man- 
kell.  Lecturer  on  Mechanical  Therapeutics;  Herman  K.  DeGroat,  Lec- 
turer on  Medicine  and  Obstetrics;  Thomas  J.  Walsh,  Lecturer  on  Medicine 
and  Pediatrics;  James  J.  Mooney,  Lecturer  on  Laryngology  and  Otology; 
Francis  W.  McGuire,  F.  A.  C.  S.,  Lecturer  on  Surgery;  W.  W.  Wuin- 
ton.  Major,  U.  S.  A.  (Ret.),  Lecturer  on  Military  Hygiene  and  Tropical 
Medicine;  John  D.  Flagg,  Instructor  in  Ophthalmology;  A.  A.  Thibau- 
deau.  Instructor  in  Hygiene;  Regina  Flood-Keyes,  Instructor  in  Ob- 
stetrics; Ethel  A.  Jacobs,  Instructor  in  Bacteriology;  William  T.  Getman, 
Instructor  in  Obstetrics;  Prescott  LeBreton,  M.D.,  F.  A.  C.  S.,  Instructor 
in  Anaesthetics;  Carroll  J.  Roberts,  Instructor  in  Medicine;  Karl  F. 
Eschelman,  M.D.,  Instructor  in  Medicine;  Theodore  M.  Leonard,  Instruc- 
tor in  Medicine;  Charles  W.  Banta,  Instructor  in  Obstetrics;  William 
F.  Jacobs,  Instructor  in  Pathology;  Harry  R.  Trick,  F.  A.  C.  S.,  Instruc- 
tor in  Surgery;  Descum  C.  McKenney,  Instructor  in  Gynecology  and 
Proctology;  Harry  R.  Lohnes,  Instructor  in  Therapeutics  and  Clinical 


UNIVERSITY  OF  BUFFALO  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  505 


Medicine;  Harry  H.  Ebberts,  Instructor  in  Medicine;  Herbert  A.  Smith, 
Instructor  in  Surgery;  Irving  W.  Potter,  Instructor  in  Obstetrics;  James 
H.  Lewis,  Instructor  in  Anatomy  and  Surgery;  Joseph  Spangenthal,  In- 
structor in  Dermatology;  Frank  H.  Ransom,  Instructor  in  Obstetrics; 
Walter  S.  Goodale,  Instructor  in  Medicine;  David  E.  Wheeler,  Instructor 
in  Anatomy;  Edward  C.  Koenig,  Instructor  in  Medicine;  Edward  A. 
Sharp,  Instructor  in  Neurology  and  Anatomy;  James  C.  Sullivan,  In- 
structor in  Anatomy;  John  Tinkler,  Instructor  in  Anatomy;  George  J. 
Eckel,  Instructor  in  Medicine  and  Anatomy;  John  F.  Fairbaim,  In- 
structor in  Laryngology  and  Otology;  John  L.  Eckel,  Instructor  in  Neu- 
rology and  Anatomy;  Bernard  F.  Schreiner,  Instructor  in  Surgery;  C.  Lee 
Shilliday,  Instructor  in  Histology;  Charles  W.  Bethune,  Instructor  in 
Genito-Urinary  Surgeiy;  Alfred  H.  Noehren,  Instructor  in  Anatomy; 
Clayton  W.  Greene,  Instructor  in  Medicine ;  Harold  W.  Cowper,  Instructor 
in  Ophthalmology. 

Assistants — Chester  C.  Cott,  Assistant  in  Laryngology  and  Otology; 
Elmer  A.  D.  Clarke,  Assistant  in  Obstetrics;  John  H.  Evans,  Assistant  in 
Anaesthetics;  Frank  E.  Brundage,  Assistant  in  Pediatrics;  Nelson  W. 
Strohm,  Assistant  in  Physiology;  Edith  R.  Hatch,  Assistant  in  Pedi- 
atrics; John  G.  Hoeckh,  Assistant  in  Medicine;  Jesse  N.  Roe,  Assistant 
in  Medicine;  Julius  Richter,  Assistant  in  Anatomy;  Ray  A.  Edson, 
Assistant  in  Ophthalmology ;  Edward  F.  Meister,  Assistant  in  Bacteriology ; 
Clayton  M.  Brown,  Assistant  in  Anatomy;  Richard  N.  De  Niord,  As- 
sistant in  Physiology  and  Pharmacology;  Baldwin  Mann,  Assistant  in 
Medicine;  Byron  D.  Bowen,  Assistant  in  Medicine;  Herman  D.  Andrews, 
Assistant  in  Ophthalmology;  Grace  A.  Persch,  Assistant  Librarian; 
Josephine  M.  Loveland,  Registrar;  Louis  Staffeldt,  Custodian  of  Building. 

The  city  of  Buffalo  affords  through  its  large  and  varied  popu- 
lation a  rich  supply  of  clinical  material,  distributed  among  a  num- 
ber of  institutions,  in  large  part  as  follows :  Buffalo  General  Hos- 
pital; Erie  County  Hospital;  Childrens'  Hospital;  Municipail 
Hospital;  Ernest  Wende  Hospital  for  Contagious  Diseases;  St. 
Mary 's  Orphan  Asylum  and  Maternity  Hospital ;  Buffalo  Eye  and 
Ear  Infirmary;  Buffalo  State  Hospital;  Charity  Eye,  Ear  and 
Throat  Hospital;  Good  Samaritan  Free  Dispensary;  Emergency 
Hospital;  The  Rescue  Home.  The  teaching  facilities  of  all  these 
are  open  to  the  Department  of  Medicine.  The  Good  Samaritan 
Dispensary,  occupying  part  of  the  medical  building,  and  the 
Buffalo  General  Hospital,  form  a  source  of  teaching  material 
directly  at  hand. 


CHAPTER  V 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL 

TO  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital  of  Brooklyn  belongs  the 
distinction  of  having  inaugurated  the  hospital-college  system 
of  medical  instruction  in  this  country ;  at  the  time  its  medical 
college  was  organized,  it  was  the  only  professional  school  in  the 
United  States  conducted  on  that  plan  of  instruction. 

Its  inception  may  be  traced  to  some  German  physicians  and 
surgeons  of  Brooklyn,  in  1856,  to  institute  a  public  medical  service, 
of  charitable  basis  in  the  German  section  of  the  city.  In  March 
that  year,  the  medical  men  concerned  organized  the  Brooklyn  Ger- 
man General  Dispensary  at  132  (now  146)  Court  street,  Brook- 
lyn. The  Dispensary  staff,  1856-57,  was  (Smith's  Brooklyn  City 
Directory)  :  Augustus  Kalb  (or  Kalt),  M.  D.,  and  Gustave 
Braeunlich,  consulting  physicians;  Louis  Bauer  and  Charles 
Neuhass,  consulting  surgeons;  Daniel  Pfeiffer,  resident  physician. 
It  was  open  to  the  poor  every  afternoon,  Sundays  excepted,  and  the 
first  case  was  treated  on  March  17,  1856,  a  Louis  Prell,  suffering 
from  "splenitis  chronica."  Apparently  the  promoters  had  intended 
the  Dispensary  to  constitute  the  first  action  toward  the  establish- 
ment of  a  large  German  Hospital,  but  the  intention  was  not  devel- 
oped to  success.  In  the  spring  following,  they  removed  it  to  146 
(now  217)  Court  street,  where  they  continued  to  the  distinct  ben- 
efit of  the  poor  of  the  district.  Indications  were  present  that  the 
primary  object  was  passing;  the  German  physicians  formed  asso- 
ciation with  Drs.  John  Byrne,  Daniel  Ayres  and  William  H. 
Dudley,  and  on  October  27,  1857,  a  meeting  was  held  at  the 
Dispensary.  Samuel  W.  Slocum  presided,  and  it  was  resolved 
''that  it  is  expedient  to  organize  the  charitable  institution  in  the 
City  of  Brooklyn,  to  be  called  St.  John's  Hospital,"  and  a  com- 
mittee was  named  to  report  a  charter  and  by-laws,  Messrs.  Dever, 
Ayres,  Messenger  and  Slocum. 

506 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL  507 


On  November  5,  1857,  preliminaries  were  arranged,  and  twenty 
regents  were  appointed  to  take  over  the  Dispensary  and  ''provide 
for  its  maintenance,  until  the  proposed  charter  has  been  obtained." 
It  was  resolved  to  establish  a  fund,  to  which  not  less  than  twelve 
dollars  was  to  be  subscribed  by  each  of  the  regents,  and  by  such 
others  as  may  join  them,  the  subscription  fees  to  be  regarded  as 
fees  of  membership.  On  the  6th  or  7th  of  that  month  (records 
differ),  the  Dispensary  passed  to  the  new  combination,  which  was 
to  take  the  name  of  ' '  St.  John 's  Hospital. ' '  An  instrument  relat- 
ing to  the  conveyance  states  that  the  "German  General  Dispen- 
sary ' '  was  merged  into  the  ' '  Long  Island  College  Hospital ' '  on  the 
7th  day  of  November,  1857,  under  the  following  officers:  John 
Byrne,  Roger  S.  Olmstead,  Gustavus  Brauenlich,  physicians ;  Louis 
Bauer,  Daniel  Ayres,  surgeons ;  Dr.  Zundt,  resident  physician  and 
superintendent.  The  document  makes  clear  that  "St.  John's" 
was  first  written  thereon,  but  subsequently  erased,  and  "Long 
Island"  afterwards  written  over  it,  the  additional  word  "College" 
having  been  inserted  above  the  line.  Subsequent  minutes  of  the 
institution  substantiate  the  inference,  proving  that  the  name 
"Long  Island  College  Hospital"  was  not  adopted  until  February 
4  of  the  following  year. 

On  November  5,  1857,  the  promoters  appointed  a  committee  con- 
sisting of  Samuel  Sloan,  Daniel  Chauncey,  and  Harry  Messenger, 
to  procure  the  act  of  incorporation.  On  November  12,  1857,  the 
treasurer  reported  the  sum  of  $115.  Charles  Storrs  was  con- 
stituted a  life-member,  he  having  contributed  the  sum  of  $100.  On 
January  7,  1858,  the  incorporators  arranged  an  option  on  the 
Perry  property  on  Henry  street,  between  Pacific  and  Amity 
streets,  the  purchase  price  not  to  exceed  $32,500.  The  record  is 
interesting,  because  of  its  inferred  information  that  medical  edu- 
cation was  also  entering  into  the  purposes  of  the  institution,  the 
minute  of  that  meeting  placing  it  on  record  as  having  been  of  * '  the 
officers  of  the  Long  Island  Hospital  and  Medical  College."  On 
February  4th,  the  projectors  resolved  that  the  institution  should 
be  known  under  the  designation  to  which  it  has  since  held,  the 
minutes  inscribing  the  gathering  as  "a  regular  meeting  of  the 
Regents  of  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital."  A  resolution  was 
adopted  to  purchase  the  Perry  property,  which  action  was  made 
possible  by  the  co-operation  of  Daniel  Chauncey,  N.  E.  James,  Sam. 
Sloan,  H.  Messenger,  R.  L.  Delisser,  Dan.  W.  Slocum,  Jacques 


508 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Cortelyou,  Joseph  Hegeman,  Livingston  K.  Miller,  and  Cornelius 
Dever,  who  each  subscribed  $400,  ''or  so  much  thereof  propor- 
tionately as  may  be  called  for."  Two  weeks  later  the  purchase 
was  accomplished,  at  $1,250  less  than  the  sum  named  in  option. 
The  contract,  which  called  for  the  payment  of  $11,250  on  May 
1st,  1858,  and  the  remaining  $20,000  within  three  years  there- 
after, was  entered  into  on  behalf  of  the  hospital  by  Hon.  Samuel 
Sloan,  chairman,  who  gave  his  personal  bond  for  the  amount. 

On  March  6th,  1858,  the  charter  was  granted  and  the  incorpo- 
rators met.  Present  were:  Hon.  Samuel  Sloan,  Messrs.  Daniel 
Chauncey,  Nathaniel  E.  James,  Samuel  W.  Slocum,  Harold  Doll- 
ner,  James  S.  Brownson,  Richard  L.  Delisser,  Henry  Messenger, 
J.  J.  Van  Nostrand,  Eugene  0  'Sullivan,  Robert  H.  Berdell,  Henry 
F.  Vail,  Luther  B.  Wyman,  Jacques  Cortelyou,  Theodore  Polhe- 
mus,  Jr.,  Livingston  K.  Miller,  Cornelius  Dever,  and  C.  N.  Bovee. 
The  meeting  was  presided  over  by  the  Hon.  Samuel  Sloan,  Liv- 
ingston K.  Miller  acting  as  secretary.  The  following  officers  were 
unanimously  elected :  President,  Charles  Christmas,  who  was  not 
present,  and  who  subsequently  declined;  vice-president,  Samuel 
W.  Slocum;  secretary,  C.  N.  Bovee;  treasurer,  Cornelius  Dever. 
A  council  of  professional  men  was  formed  with  executive  power 
over  the  collegiate  department — Doctors  Chauncey  L.  Mitchell, 
William  H.  Dudley,  Theodore  L.  Mason,  and  John  Byrne.  It  was 
resolved  ''that  Drs.  Daniel  Ayres  and  Louis  Bauer  be  also  ap- 
pointed members  of  the  Faculty  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  and 
Professors."  The  eighteen  regents  present  agreed  to  pay  $100 
each  as  life-members,  and  also  undertook  each  to  loan  the  insti- 
tution a  sum  not  exceeding  $500. 

The  charter  appointed  Samuel  W.  Slocum,  Cornelius  Dever, 
Henry  Messenger,  Livingston  K.  Miller,  Daniel  Chauncey,  C.  Nes- 
tell  Bovee,  and  their  associates,  "a  body  corporate  and  politic"  by 
the  name  of  "The  Long  Island  College  Hospital,"  for  the  purposes 
of  establishing  and  maintaining  a  public  hospital,  '  *  and  of  promot- 
ing medical  science  and  instruction  in  the  department  of  learning 
connected  therewith."  The  charter  stipulated  for  government  by 
a  board  of  regents  to  consist  of  twenty-five  members,  five  to  be 
elected  annually,  and  to  retire  in  rotation;  the  regents  were  em- 
powered to  grant  and  confer  degrees  to  graduates  who  were  twen- 
ty-one years  or  more,  had  passed  three  years  as  student  under  a 
reputable  physician,  and  completed  two  courses  of  lectures,  the 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL  509 


last  at  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital.  Subscriptions  of  ten 
dollars  annually  constituted  the  donors  ordinary  members  of  the 
corporation.  On  March  20,  1858,  additional  officers  were  nomi- 
nated: Gustavus  Brauenlich,  Edwin  N.  Chapman,  as  physicians; 
and  Roger  S.  Olmstead  as  adjunct  physician. 

On  April  8th  Hon.  Samuel  Sloan  was  elected  president,  Charles 
Christmas,  who  had  been  elected  without  his  knowledge  or  consent, 
having  declined.  The  regents  prepared  a  letter  to  the  public, 
appealing  ' '  in  the  strongest  manner ' '  to  the  benevolent  and  Chris- 
tian sympathies  of  the  residents  of  Brooklyn  to  support  the  project 
of  establishing  the  institution  ''where  the  unfortunate  and  needy 
may  be  provided  for  in  the  hour  of  suffering,"  stating  that  the 
payment  of  $100  would  constitute  the  donor  a  life-member,  and 
that  the  sum  of  $300  would  secure  a  life-membership,  and  in  addi- 
tion one  free  scholarship  in  the  college.  The  institution  had  for 
its  objects,  as  stated  by  the  regents  in  the  circular  referred  to,  the 
furnishing  of :  1.  A  hospital,  with  an  indoor  and  outdoor  depart- 
ment, for  the  treatment  of  surgical  and  medical  cases.  2.  A  lying-in 
department,  for  the  poor  and  unfortunate.  3.  A  corps  of  regularly 
educated  and  licensed  nurses.  4.  A  college  where  all  the  branches 
of  medical  science  could  be  taught,  and  medical  students  practically 
trained.  On  April  17,  1858,  the  regents  appointed  Dr.  James  H. 
Henry  as  a  member  of  the  council,  and  A.  Haslett  and  Mr.  Ess- 
linger  as  adjunct  physician  and  warden,  respectively. 

The  building  in  which  the  dispensary  was  conducted  was  vacated 
May  1,  1858,  and  it  is  presumed  that  the  Perry  mansion  was  occu- 
pied almost  simultaneously.  An  inauguration  festival  took  place 
June  3,  1858,  at  the  Athenaeum,  and  a  banquet,  at  which  about 
two  hundred  sat.  This  increased  the  resources  to  the  extent  of 
$79.62  in  cash,  and  considerable  increase  in  public  interest;  205 
tickets  at  $5  each  were  sold. 

Alteration  being  necessary  to  adapt  the  Perry  mansion  to  the 
requirements  of  the  hospital,  in  July,  1858,  the  Joint  Board  of 
Council  and  Faculty  pledged  themselves  to  raise  the  $2,500  neces- 
sary. In  the  meantime  it  was  decided  to  proceed  with  the  altera- 
tions. By  October,  1858,  $1,325  had  been  collected,  to  which  sum 
was  added  shortly  afterwards  an  additional  $875.  "In  order  to 
raise  funds  for  the  maintenance  of  the  institution, ' '  Robert  Waldo 
Emerson  was  engaged  to  lecture,  his  lecture  netting  $100.  In 


510 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


November  the  alterations  and  additions  were  completed,  and  the 
building  opened. 

The  institution  proceeded  quietly  but  not  uneventfully,  the 
first  half  of  1859 ;  albeit  the  main  cause  of  action  and  discussion, 
apart  from  the  hospital  labors,  centred  upon  the  need  of  money. 
In  May,  Dr.  Louis  Bauer  resigned.  The  regents  decided  to  per- 
sonally solicit  contributions  from  the  citizens;  they  systematically 
districted  the  city,  but  not  with  conspicuous  success.  On  Septem- 
ber 28,  1859,  the  treasurer  reported  debts  exceeding  $5,000.  The 
regents  were  compelled  to  curb  outgoings,  and  decided  to  admit 
no  new  patients,  excepting  cases  of  accident.  It  seemed  that  the 
institution  would  be  closed  altogether,  and  that  the  college  would 
not  be  able  to  enter  upon  even  its  first  session.  In  this  serious 
state  of  affairs,  the  joint  board  of  Council  and  Faculty  determined 
to  take  upon  themselves  the  liabilities  of  the  collegiate  department, 
and  offered  their  joint  guarantee  of  $3,000  to  carry  on  the  col- 
legiate department,  provided  the  regents  extinguished  the  floating 
debt,  and  took  measures  to  liquidate  the  mortgage  on  the  property. 
This  the  regents  were  not  able  to  undertake,  and  in  November  re- 
solved to  advertise  the  property  for  sale  by  public  auction.  The 
council  and  faculty  subsequently  undertook  to  guarantee  the 
$3,000  unconditionally,  and,  this  being  acceptable  to  the  regents, 
the  following  were  elected  the  faculty  for  the  first  year's  instruc- 
tion: 

Dr.  Austin  Flint,  Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine ; 
Dr.  Frank  Hamilton,  Professor  of  Principles  and  Practice  of 
Surgery;  Joseph  C.  Hutchinson,  Professor  of  Surgical  Anatomy 
and  Operative  Surgery,  with  demonstration  on  the  cadaver ;  J.  D. 
Trask,  Professor  of  Obstetrics,  and  Diseases  of  Women  and 
Children;  D.  C.  Enos,  Professor  of  General  and  Descriptive  An- 
atomy. The  chairs  of  Physiology,  Chemistry  and  Medical  Juris- 
prudence were  not  filled  at  that  time,  but  subsequently  Drs.  Dal- 
ton  and  Doremus  were  appointed. 

One  gentleman  in  particular  had  the  interests  of  the  institution 
thoroughly  at  heart,  and  in  its  desperate  need  unstintingly  gave  of 
his  private  resources.  Dr.  William  H.  Dudley,  of  the  collegiate 
council,  came  forward  in  December,  when  the  regents  endeavored 
to  end  their  liability  by  selling  the  whole  of  the  property  of  the 
corporation,  and  ensured  its  continuance  by  purchasing  it  himself 
for  $28,550.   The  old  corporation  was  thus  liquidated,  each  of  the 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL 


511 


guarantors  bearing  his  proportion  of  the  financial  loss  thereby  en- 
tailed. • 

The  Long  Island  College  Hospital  was  reopened"  for  the  first 
course  of  lectures  March  3,  1860,  and  an  announcement  at  that 
time  states  that  it  starts  with  means  which  will  enable  it 
not  only  to  succor  the  afflicted,  but  to  establish  a  College  for  in- 
struction." The  circular  issued  prior  to  the  opening  announced 
that  the  college  was  '*to  supply  a  want  expressed  by  members  of 
the  medical  profession  and  by  students,  and  which  has  hitherto 
not  been  met  in  the  northern  and  middle  sections  of  this  country, 
namely,  a  medical  school  of  the  first  order  which  would  afford  the 
means  of  instruction  during  the  later  spring  and  early  summer 
months."  The  faculty  anticipated  ''students  from  the  South" 
especially  to  welcome  the  opportunity  to  study  ''in  a  temperate 
climate,  in  a  city  beautiful,  healthful  and  quiet,  yet  populous  .  .  . 
at  a  season  of  the  year  which  has  hitherto  been  but  little  occupied 
with  regular  courses  of  medical  lectures."  The  circular  empha- 
sized the  good  fortune  of  the  college  "in  procuring  the  co-opera- 
tion, as  members  of  the  faculty,  of  several  professors  of  other 
schools,  distinguished  by  their  contributions  to  medical  literature. ' ' 
It  stated  that  the  members  of  the  Collegiate  Council  would  con- 
stitute also  a  board  of  curators,  in  whom  rested  the  responsibility 
of  examining  candidates  for  the  degree  of  M.D.,  but  averred  that 
the  council  could  "have  no  possible  motive  or  desire  to  admit  into 
the  ranks  of  the  profession  unworthy  members,  and  that  they 
have  no  interest  whatever  in  the  institution  inconsistent  with 
the  advancement  of  medical  education,  and  the  welfare  of  the 
medical  profession."  Prominence  was  also  given  to  its  claim  that 
the  school  was  the  first  of  the  hospital-college  type  in  the  country, 
ensuring  "great  advancement  in  clinical  teachings,  students  be- 
ing able  to  pass  from  the  lecture  room  into  the  hospital  wards." 
The  session  was  to  embrace  four  months,  the  fee  $100,  with  $5  for 
matriculation,  $5  to  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy,  and  to  those  who 
could  qualify,  a  graduation  fee  of  $25.  It  was  stated  that  the 
course  in  physiology  would  be  demonstrative,  vivisection  and  other 
experimental  illustrations  being  employed  by  Professor  Dalton 
(president  later  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons)  "who 
was  the  first  to  introduce  into  this  country  this  method  of  physi- 
ological instruction."  The  opening  session  was  distinctly  en- 
couraging, bearing  in  mind  the  chequered  earlier  circumstances 


512 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


identified  with  the  institution  which  must  have  created  doubts  as 
to  its  permanence  in  the  minds  of  many  would-be  students.  Not- 
withstanding this  handicap,  58  and  a  number  of  graduates  of  other 
schools,  attended  the  lectures.  The  Commencement  exercises  were 
held  July  24,  1860,  and  were  made  more  than  customarily  cere- 
monious. Dr.  Arthur  Berceau  was  granted  the  first  diploma  con- 
ferred by  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital.  The  first  graduating 
class  numbered  21,  S.  J.  Morrison  being  valedictorian. 

In  the  autumn,  the  Council,  anticipating  an  increased  enrollment 
for  the  second  year,  recommended  further  alterations  to  the  col- 
lege-hospital buildings,  and  the  erection  of  an  additional  building 
to  contain  a  spacious  amphitheatre,  an  adequate  dissecting  room, 
library  and  museum.  The  general  lecture  hall  of  the  main  build- 
ing they  desired  also  to  have  enlarged,  these  alterations  necessitat- 
ing an  outlay  of  about  $6,000.  It  was  decided  to  prosecute  the 
work  immediately,  so  that  it  might  be  completed  if  possible  before 
the  opening  of  the  next  session. 

The  Annual  Circular,"  for  the  1861  session  stated  that  ''the 
success  which  attended  the  first  session  may  be  considered  as 
demonstrating  the  correctness  of  the  views  with  which  the  insti- 
tution was  commenced. ' '  It  pointed  out  that  the  Long  Island  Col- 
lege Hospital  buildings  "are  most  eligibly  and  pleasantly  situated 
.  .  .  overlooking  the  bay  .  .  .  surrounded  by  ample  and  orna- 
mental grounds."  Further  that  the  "City  of  Brooklyn  contains 
about  300,000  inhabitants,  being  the  third  city  of  the  United  States 
in  point  of  population,"  and  that  "its  salubrious  and  beautiful 
situation,"  its  proximity  to  New  York,  and  the  character  of  the 
city,  rendered  Brooklyn  "peculiarly  suited"  to  become  the  seat 
of  a  large  medical  school.  A  preliminary  course,  which  would  be 
almost  wholly  clinical,  of  four  weeks'  duration,  was  to  precede  the 
regular  course,  the  opening  day  of  which  was  to  be  March  18, 
1861,  and  the  session  was  to  end  about  the  middle  of  July.  The 
clinical  instruction  during  the  preliminary  term  was  given  daily 
in  the  hospital  wards,  supplemented  by  a  course  of  lectures  in 
military  surgery  by  Professor  Hamilton. 

The  institution  was  however  very  meagrely  supported  by  the 
public,  and  notwithstanding  the  invaluable  public  service  afforded 
by  the  hospital,  it  remained  almost  wholly  a  direct  charge  against 
the  resources  of  those  who  gave  it  also  their  most  earnest  and  in- 
defatigable personal  labor.     In  particular,  the  liabilities  fell 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL  513 


heavily  upon  Dr.  Wm.  H.  Dudley,  who  between  1860  and  1862 
practically  carried  the  institution,  loaning  to  it  at  various  times 
during  the  period  sums  aggregating  $10,874.94.  Events  of  im- 
portance that  year  were :  that  on  April  1st,  there  remained  in  the 
treasury  $23.20;  the  resignation  on  May  13th  of  Hon.  Samuel 
Sloan,  president,  and  the  election  of  H.  B.  Cromwell  to  succeed 
him;  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Cromwell  in  October,  and  the  re-elec- 
tion of  Mr.  Sloan,  in  December,  when  he  reported  that  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  collecting  $8,500  in  subscriptions,  to  be  applied  toward 
the  floating  debt.  Seventy-nine  students  attended  during  the 
1861  session,  the  graduating  class  numbering  17.  Charles  T.  Inger- 
soll  was  the  valedictorian. 

After  the  re-election  of  the  Hon.  Sam.  Sloan  to  the  presidency, 
the  regents  and  council  made  every  possible  effort  to  further  in- 
crease the  subscriptions,  and  during  the  winter  they  instituted 
some  popular  lectures  which  netted  $415.  A  committee  appointed 
to  raise  money  in  aid  of  the  hospital  reported  in  March,  1862, 
that  the  subscription  fund  had  been  increased  to  $9,244.18.  By  the 
end  of  the  year  the  president  was  able  to  report  that  the  indebted- 
ness of  the  institution  to  Dr.  Dudley  had  been  reduced  to  $1,300. 

During  that  terrible  year  of  war,  the  hospital  received  many 
drafts  of  wounded  soldiers.  Just  before  the  memorable  battles 
before  Richmond  commenced  in  1862,  the  United  States  govern- 
ment applied  to  the  northern  civil  hospitals  to  receive  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers.  The  regents  of  the  Long  Island  College  Hos- 
pital promptly  responded;  but  room  and  furniture  were  want- 
ing, and  pecuniary  resources  were  not  present.  An  appeal  to  clergy- 
men and  others  of  the  vicinity  brought  response  to  the  extent  of 
$774.70,  which  was  quite  inadequate  for  the  purpose.  However, 
the  regents  did  not  hesitate  to  place  their  full  facilities  at  the 
disposal  of  the  government,  and  their  record  in  this  respect  con- 
stitutes a  worthy  chapter  of  the  institution's  history.  During  that 
year's  work,  the  military  situation  had  prior  place  in  the  minds  of 
almost  all  students,  professors,  and  physicians,  especially  after 
the  wounded  soldiers  began  to  fill  the  wards.  The  graduating  class 
only  numbered  11,  the  valedictorian  of  the  year  being  J.  C.  Mor- 
ton. The  year  1863  was  uneventful,  apart  from  the  military 
labors ;  16  students  graduated,  of  whom  J.  G.  Kalbach  was  valedic- 
torian.  The  matriculants  only  numbered  fifty. 

Professor  Hamilton  was  again  present  during  the  session  of 


514 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


1864,  after  having  been  absent  for  two  years  as  surgeon  and 
medical  inspector  in  the  United  States  army.  There  were  some 
faculty  changes;  Professor  Chapman  was  transferred  from  the 
chair  of  Materia  Medica  to  the  department  of  Obstetrics,  Dr.  Gil- 
f allan  taking  the  professorship  of  Materia  Medica ;  Professor  Dore- 
mus  having  resigned  the  professorship  of  Chemistry,  Professor 
D.  G.  Eaton  was  appointed  to  that  chair;  Dr.  Austin  Flint,  Jr., 
also  joined  the  faculty,  as  Professor  of  Physiology  and  Microscopic 
Anatomy,  vice  Dr.  Dalton,  resigned.  The  session  showed  sub- 
stantial improvement;  there  was  a  graduating  class  of  forty,  0. 
C.  Sparrow  carrying  off  the  valedictorian  honors. 

Important  progress  financially  was  effected  during  1864.  On 
March  28,  Theodore  Polhemus,  Jr.,  was  elected  president,  and 
great  efforts  were  made  to  clear  the  debt.  The  campaign,  ad- 
mirably headed  by  the  president,  continued  actively  throughout 
the  year,  and  on  December  5,  1864,  the  institution  had  become  pos- 
sessed of  $22,800.  Death  suddenly  called  away  the  president, 
Theodore  Polhemus,  Jr.,  in  the  midst  of  his  worthy  work.  Joseph 
Ripley  was  appointed  to  fill  the  office  thus  rendered  vacant,  and 
commenced  under  more  encouraging  conditions  than  had  any  one 
of  his  predecessors. 

The  regents  of  the  institution,  in  a  report  issued  in  1867,  re- 
viewing the  ten  years  of  endeavor,  stated  in  great  detail  the 
financial  condition,  as  it  existed  in  1864.    The  review  reads: 

In  1864  the  need  of  more  room  for  the  Out-door  department,  which  had 
hitherto  been  conducted  within  the  hospital  building",  had  become__so 
pressing  that  a  separate  building  was  prepared  for  its  reception  by  re- 
modelling and  adding  to  the  structure  already  on  the  grounds;  and  yet 
the  premises  furnish  insufficient  accommodation  for  the  reception  and 
treatment  of  the  patients  who  apply  for  the  relief  which  it  is  intended 
to  afford. 

Up  to  May  21,  1864,  as  appears  from  the  report  then  published,  the 
expenses  of  supporting  the  hospital  had  been  chiefly  defrayed  by  the 
regents,  by  the  members  of  the  councils,  and  by  a  few  of  our  benevolent 
citizens;  $10,000  to  $12,000  had  been  first  raised,  and  expended  for  this 
purpose.  There  were  no  liabilities  for  current  expenses  unprovided  for 
at  that  date,  yet  the  large  permanent  debt  remained,  acting  as  a  drain 
on  the  resources  of  the  institution.  This  debt  .  .  .  had  been  reduced 
from  $32,000  to  $21,000.  Interest  for  six  years,  amounting  to  $13,440, 
had  been  paid  and  the  necessary  furniture,  apparatus,  alterations,  and 
improvements  to  buildings  are  estimated  to  have  cost  at  least  $5,000. 
$29,000  at  least  had,  therefore,  been  expended  on  real  and  personal  estate. 
This  was  the  condition  on  the  institution  in  1864,  when  the  regents  deter- 
mined to  attempt  the  removal  of  this  obstacle  .  .  .  and  issued  a  statement 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL  515 


appealing  to  the  community  for  $25,000  which  would  pay  the  debt  and 
interest.  ...  As  a  result  .  .  .  $22,000  were  realized  in  subscriptions  of 
$5,000,  $1,000,  $500  and  lesser  sums.  The  property  was  thus  freed  from 
the  mortgage  debt  and  annual  interest  of  $1,400. 

About  the  end  of  1864,  the  regents  applied  to  the  City  for  a 
portion  of  the  money  raised  for  hospital  purposes,  and  confidently 
relied  upon  this  with  the  State  grant  to  enable  them,  with  local 
annual  contributions,  to  meet  the  current  expenses  of  the  insti- 
tution. 

The  1865  session  of  the  college  established  an  encouraging  rec- 
ord; there  were  53  graduates,  with  E.  S.  Bates  as  valedictorian. 
In  that  year  the  city  of  Brooklyn  materially  and  officially  recog- 
nized the  good  work  of  the  hospital  by  making  a  grant  of  $4,000, 
which  donation  enabled  the  finance  committee,  on  December  18, 
1865,  to  report  that  the  fund  had  reached  a  sufficient  amount  to 
redeem  the  mortgage  and  the  whole  of  the  floating  debt  incurred* 
up  to  November  26,  1865. 

There  were  no  faculty  changes  in  1866,  the  enrollment  for  which 
was  eminently  satisfactory,  122  students  taking  the  lectures,  of 
whom  49  graduated.  The  valedictorian  was  E.  S.  Bates.  That 
year  saw  the  election  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Van  Nostrand  to  the  presidency 
in  place  of  Mr.  Joseph  Ripley. 

In  1867,  there  were  many  faculty  changes.  Dr.  Samuel  G. 
Armor  was  appointed  Professor  of  Therapeutics,  Materia  Medica 
and  General  Pathology,  the  announcement  stating  that  he  came 
from  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  was  ''long  and  favorably 
known  as  an  accomplished  teacher  of  the  departments  assigned  to 
him."  The  Annual  Circular  further  announced  that  the  council 
and  faculty,  ' '  convinced  of  the  vital  importance  of  practical  knowl- 
edge .  .  .  determined  at  the  very  commencement  of  their  opera- 
tions, whilst  giving  due  place  to  didactive  instruction,  to  make 
demonstrative  teaching  the  basis  of  their  system."  A  third  pro- 
fessor was  added  to  the  department  of  surgery.  The  number 
of  graduates  was  34;  valedictorian,  E.  D.  Grinder.  The  Regents 
in  that  year  stated  the  work  and  experiences  of  the  institution  over 
the  first  decade  of  its  existence  "afforded  ample  evidence  that  a 
well-endowed  hospital  is  much  needed  in  the  section."  During 
the  period,  the  hospital  had  prescribed  for  more  than  65,000 
patients,  but,  the  regents  stated,  that  to  other  numerous  demands 
they  "were  constrained  to  refuse  compliance,"  owing  to  lack  of 


516 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


means.  Nevertheless  the  Regents  ''believe  they  have  every  reason 
to  be  satisfied  with  the  results  attained,  and  feel  confident  that  they 
have  finally  succeeded  in  placing  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital 
upon  a  permanent  basis. ' '  The  disbursements  for  all  purposes,  ex- 
cepting for  construction  of  the  new  wing  of  the  hospital,  aggre- 
gated $10,955.76,  which  was  more  than  covered  by  the  year 's  income 
of  $11,415.53. 

With  each  year,  the  demands  upon  the  facilities  of  the  institu- 
tion increased ;  in  1868  the  Regents  determined  to  borrow  $20,000 
for  the  erection  of  an  additional  building,  and  also  to  make  fur- 
ther alteration  and  improvements  to  the  old  building.  The  students 
granted  diplomas  in  1867  were  26,  William  C.  Coleman  being  the 
valedictorian. 

The  new  wing  of  the  hospital  was  opened  March  18,  1869,  and 
other  alterations  were  in  an  advanced  state  by  the  end  of  the  year. 
Eighteen  students  graduated,  Ez.  C.  Scudder  being  valedictorian. 

The  Annual  Circular  of  1870  referred  to  the  many  improvements 
to  the  buildings,  stating  that  "the  original  hospital  building  has 
been  greatly  altered  and  improved,  a  large  additional  building, 
containing  the  most  modern  improvements  in  ventilation,  has  been 
added,  and  greatly  increased  facilities  for  bedside  instruction  and 
study  have  thus  been  provided."  The  faculty  in  that  year  was 
increased  from  nine  to  eleven,  and  there  were  many  changes,  bring- 
ing much  reorganization  of  departments.  Dr.  Austin  Flint,  Pro- 
fessor of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine,  having  resigned, 
his  place  was  taken  by  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Armor,  who  vacated  the 
chair  of  Therapeutics,  Materia  Medica  and  General  Pathology,  and 
became  for  the  1870  session  also  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine; 
Professor  Armor  later  became  dean  of  the  faculty.  Dr.  Dewitt  C. 
Enos,  Professor  of  Anatomy,  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Corydon  L. 
Ford,  and  Dr.  E.  S.  Dunster  became  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and 
Diseases  of  Children,  vice  Dr.  Ed.  N.  Chapman.  Professor  Joseph 
C.  Hutchinson,  Professor  of  Operative  Surgery,  resigned,  as  did 
also  Dr.  Darwin  C.  Eaton,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Toxicology ; 
to  the  latter  chair  Dr.  George  W.  Plympton  was  appointed,  and 
Dr.  William  T.  Lusk  was  appointed  head  of  the  departments  of 
Physiology  and  Microscopic  Anatomy,  in  place  of  Dr.  Austin  Flint, 
Jr.,  who  tendered  his  resignation.  Dr.  A.  J.  C.  Skene.  Assistant 
Professor  of  Obstetrics,  was  made  Professor  of  the  Diseases  of 
Women  and  Children,  and  Clinical  Obstetrics,  and  Dr.  Geo.  K. 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL  517 


Smith,  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy,  was  advanced  to  an  Adjunct 
Professorship  of  Surgery.  Drs.  Jarvis  S.  Wight,  J.  S.  Prout  and 
Arthur  Matthewson  joined  the  teaching  staff  as  lecturers  on  Ma- 
teria Medica  and  Therapeutics,  Ophthalmology,  and  Diseases  of 
the  Ear,  respectively.  The  class  of  1870  graduated  30  students, 
headed  by  P.  B.  Plotts,  valedictorian.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Regents, 
authority  was  obtained  to  erect  a  new  building,  at  a  cost  of  $12,- 
000  on  the  corner  of  Henry  and  Amity  streets,  to  accommodate 
United  States  sailors. 

The  Regents  reported  that  the  financial  condition  of  the  institu- 
tion, as  a  whole,  was  satisfactory.  There  was  no  debt,  excepting 
that  of  $20,000,  contracted  for  the  erection  of  the  female  wing, 
and  secured  by  a  mortgage.  But  the  Regents  noted  that  ' '  our  city 
continues  on  the  road  to  prosperity ;  factories  and  warehouses  con- 
stantly increase  in  our  neighborhood,  and  vessels  of  all  classes 
throng  our  wharfs  more  and  more;"  which  general  increased 
prosperity,  they  averred,  ^'brings  increased  demand  upon  the  hos- 
pital. ' '  It  had  therefore  been  considered  wise  by  them,  * '  so  as  not 
hereafter  to  have  to  withhold  aid  from  a  single  sufferer,"  to  au- 
thorize the  erection  of  a  new  addition  to  their  hospital.  The  ad- 
dition was,  in  all  main  points,  similar  to  the  wing  erected  two 
years  previously,  being  148  ft.  long  by  30  ft.  wide,  the  building 
having  three  floors,  including  basement,  and  furnishing  floor  space 
for  sixty  to  seventy  beds,  thereby  increasing  the  hospital  capacity 
to  200  beds. 

There  were  thirty-four  graduates  in  1871,  and  W.  Barney  Mix  . 
was  valedictorian.  A  reading  and  recitation  term  was  established 
in  1872,  beginning  in  the  fall  and  continuing  until  the  regular 
session  began,  the  announcement  stating  that  ''in  addition  to 
daily  recitations,  the  class  will  be  divided  for  practical  training  in 
the  hospital  wards."  It  was  also  stated  that  over  8,000  patients 
were  treated  at  the  out-door  department,  to  which  students  had 
unrestricted  facility  of  attendance  and  observation.  The  reading 
term  would  extend  from  October  to  February.  The  graduates 
numbered  43,  with  S.  Arthur  Duel!,  valedictorian. 

For  the  1873-74  sessions,  there  were  some  faculty  changes. 
Henry  S.  Cheever  took  the  chair  of  Physiology  and  Microscopic 
Anatomy,  vacated  by  Professor  Wm.  T.  Lusk ;  W.  Warren  Greene 
became  Professor  of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery  and 
of  Clinical  Surgery,  in  place  of  Frank  H.  Hamilton,  and  Joseph  H. 
Raymond  was  appointed  Adjunct  Professor  of  Physiology.  The 


518 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


announcement  stated  that  ''with  a  view  of  keeping  thoroughly 
abreast  with  the  most  advanced  systems  of  medical  education  in  this 
and  other  countries,  the  faculty  .  .  .  determined  to  extend  their 
instruction  throughout  the  year,  by  lectures,  recitation,  laboratory 
work,  and  clinical  teaching."  The  regular  term  was  set  to  com- 
mence March  4  and  end  June  30,  and  the  reading  term  was  to  be- 
gin on  October  1,  1873,  and  continue  until  February  28,  1874. 
Object  teaching  would  be  thoroughly  demonstrative,  the  lectures 
being  supplemented  by  questions,  recitations,  and  explanations; 
students  also  would  be  afforded  ample  dissection  opportunity,  and 
clinical  instruction  would  henceforth  continue  throughout  the 
year.  The  graduating  class  of  1873  numbered  44,  George  H.  At- 
kinson, Jr.,  being  the  valedictorian. 

In  1874,  the  construction  of  a  new  dissecting  room  was  com- 
jnenced,  the  cost  amounting  to  $3,000.  On  October  22,  Mr.  J.  J. 
Van  Nostrand  resigned  the  presidency,  and  Thomas  H.  Rodman 
was  elected  to  the  office.  Fifty-seven  students  received  their  de- 
grees, John  Harrigan  being  valedictorian.  The  1875  class  num- 
bered 44,  with  E.  C.  Dudley  as  valedictorian  and  the  record  for 
1876  showed  45  graduates,  with  H.  H.  Hahn,  valedictorian. 

Some  rearrangements  of  departments  were  made  for  the  1877-78 
sessions.  Dr.  Daniel  Ayres,  who  had  been  one  of  the  most  active 
of  the  founders,  became  Emeritus  Professor  of  Surgery,  Patholog- 
ical and  Clinical  Surgery;  Dr.  Edward  Seaman  Bunker  became 
Professor  of  the  Practice  and  Principles  of  Obstetrics,  and  Clinical 
Obstetrics,  and  Dr.  J.  D.  Rushmore  became  Professor  of  Materia 
Medica  and  Therapeutics,  vice  Jarvis  S.  Wight,  who  relieved  Dr. 
Daniel  Ayres  from  the  duties  of  the  department  of  Principles  and 
Practice  of  Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery. 

The  1877  graduating  class  totalled  33,  of  whom  H.  H.  Kane  took 
the  valedictorian  distinctions.  The  following  year  there  were  33 
graduates.  The  same  number  graduated  in  1879,  E.  H.  Hartley 
winning  position  as  valedictorian. 

For  the  sessions  of  1879-80,  Dr.  John  A.  McCorkle  became  lec- 
turer on  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics.  The  curriculum  was 
expanded,  a  new  department,  to  give  instruction  in  histology  and 
general  pathology,  being  organized  under  Dr.  Edward  Seaman 
Bunker.  Forty-five  students  graduated  in  1880,  G.  R.  Butler  being 
valedictorian.  The  enrollments  numbered  154,  the  students  com- 
ing from  sixteen  States  of  the  Union. 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL  519 


The  college  having  been  established  for  more  than  twenty  years, 
a  movement  was  initiated  in  1880  to  form  an  Alumni  Association. 
On  May  23  of  that  year  a  meeting  of  graduates  was  held,  at  which 
Professor  Alexander  J.  C.  Skene  was  unanimously  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  * '  Association  of  the  Alumni  of  the  Long  Island  College 
Hospital"  then  established,  and  on  June  13,  1881,  students  of  the 
college  gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  country  for  the  first  annual 
meeting.  For  the  1880-81  session,  Dr.  Rushmore  having  resigned, 
Dr.  J.  A.  McCorkle  was  appointed  Professor  of  Materia  Medica 
and  Therapeutics.  Dr.  Charles  Jewett  also  received  appointment 
as  lecturer  on  obstetrics.  The  curriculum  was  expanding  each 
year,  and  the  course  became  each  year  more  difficult.  During  the 
regular  session  of  1880-81,  students  had  classes  at  which  they  must 
attend  each  week  day,  from  9  o'clock  each  morning  until  5  p.  m., 
excepting  Saturday,  when  there  were  no  afternoon  lectures;  and 
during  the  reading  term  the  classes  began  at  1  p.  m.,  continuing 
until  9  p.  m.  each  week  day,  excepting  on  Saturdays,  when  only 
morning  classes  were  held.  The  class  of  1881  graduated  51,  of 
whom  C.  J.  Thomas  was  valedictorian.  There  were  61  graduates 
in  the  class  of  1882,  Robert  Emery  Scott  being  valedictorian.  In 
1883,  Dr.  Rushmore  again  joined  the  faculty  as  Professor  of 
Surgery,  and  Dr.  Charles  Jewett  was  advanced  from  the  position  of 
lecturer  on  obstetrics  to  the  professorship  of  that  department.  The 
enrollments  numbered  154,  of  whom  50  graduated,  Andros  Palmer 
Chesley  being  valedictorian.  Sanitary  Science  was  added  to  the 
curriculum  and  attached  to  the  department  of  Physiology,  under 
the  direction  of  Professor  Raymond. 

The  announcement  of  that  year  stated  that  the  ''Long  Island 
College  Hospital  Board  of  Regents,  under  advice  of  the  collegiate 
council  and  faculty,  have  established  a  Training  School  for  Nurses, 
under  experienced  teachers,"  who  gave  instruction  in  anatomy, 
physiology,  food  and  medicine,  symptomatology,  surgery,  and 
gynecology.  Applicants  between  25  and  35  years  of  age  were 
taken  on  probation  for  one  month,  and  admitted  by  matriculation 
to  the  Training  School  for  a  course  of  study  of  two  years'  duration. 
The  catalogue  also  contained  an  advertisement  stating  that  the 
Alumni  Association  offered  a  prize  of  $100  for  the  best  essay  on 
medical  subjects. 

The  class  of  1884  contained  37  graduates ;  valedictorian,  George 
L.  Hutchinson.    In  the  following  year,  123  students  attended  the 


520 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


lectures,  47  graduating.  Fred  Whiting  won  place  as  valedictorian. 
The  faculty  changes  in  1885  resulted  in  the  following  appoint- 
ments :  Dr.  Frank  Ferguson  as  Professor  of  Histology  and  Patho- 
logical Anatomy;  Edwin  A.  Lewis,  M.  D.,  as  Adjunct  Professor 
of  Anatomy;  Elias  Bartley,  as  Adjunct  Professor  of  Chemistry. 

The  next  few  years  were  eventful  ones  for  the  institution.  Of 
chief  importance,  probably,  were  the  dispositions  made  by  Dr.  Cor- 
nelius Nevius  Hoagland,  of  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital  Board 
of  Regents.  In  1886,  impressed  with  the  work  already  done  by 
scientists  in  the  department  of  bacteriology,  he  commenced  the 
erection  of  the  Hoagland  Laboratory  * '  for  the  promotion  of  medical 
science,  and  the  instruction  of  students  in  special  branches 
thereof."  This  cost  Dr.  Hoagland  more  than  $180,000,  and  was  a 
most  valuable  addition  to  the  facilities  of  the  college.  The  build- 
ing was  erected  on  land  owned  by  Dr.  Hoagland,  opposite  the 
college  buildings,  and  the  college  announcement  of  the  following 
year  gave  great  prominence  to  the  establishment  of  the  Hoagland 
Laboratory,  which  would  be  '^equipped  with  all  apparatus  neces- 
sary for  the  study  of  medicine  in  all  its  branches,  but  more  par- 
ticularly in  histology,  physiology,  bacteriology,  and  pathology.'^ 
Although  actually  not  transferred  directly  to  the  college,  the 
Hoagland  Laboratory  was  to  all  intents  and  purposes  the  property 
of  the  institution,  and  was  primarily  built  with  that  intention. 
The  announcement  stated  also  that  the  establishment  of  the  Lab- 
oratory ''will  fully  meet  the  demand  .  .  .  for  practical  instruc- 
tion in  microscopy,  histology,  and  pathology ;  in  addition  .  .  .  stu- 
dents will  be  made  familiar  with  the  technique  of  bacteriology, 
so  that  they  will  be  able  to  determine  with  certainty  the  presence, 
or  absence,  of  the  known  germs  of  disease." 

In  the  1886  session,  Dr.  Alex.  J.  C.  Skene  became  dean  of  the 
faculty,  vice  Dr.  Armor,  who  had  held  the  chief  administrative 
office  for  sixteen  years  with  much  ability.  Dr.  George  W.  Plymp- 
ton  and  Dr.  Corydon  L.  Ford  were  both  honored  in  that  year  by 
appointment  to  emeritus  professorships,  and  Dr.  Frank  E.  West 
became  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics. 

On  October  9,  1886,  occurred  the  death  of  Dr.  William  H. 
Dudley,  to  whom  more  than  to  any  of  the  founders  the  institution 
owed  its  continuance  during  the  early  years  of  extreme  financial 
stress.  The  matriculants  of  1886  numbered  110 ;  49  were  graduated, 
with  Alex.  May  Redfearn  as  valedictorian. 

The  importance  of  the  Medical  College  was  increasing  with  each 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL  521 


year.  Since  its  inception  it  had  developed  steadily  and  surely. 
In  1887  the  teaching  staff  consisted  of  ten  professors  of  the  fac- 
ulty, and  two  emeritus  professors;  ten  professors  of  special  sub- 
jects for  the  regular  term ;  and  twelve  lecturers  and  eighteen  assist- 
ants for  the  reading  and  recitation  term.  With  the  approaching 
addition  of  the  Hoagland  Laboratory  to  their  facilities,  it  was 
thought  that  the  progress  in  the  future  would  become  even  more 
rapid.  Unfortunately,  owing  to  a  defect  in  the  title  to  the  ground 
on  which  it  had  been  intended  to  erect  the  laboratory,  another 
site  had  to  be  procured.  This  delayed  the  building  of  the  labora- 
tory, and  it  was  not  until  December  15,  1888,  that  the  building 
was  formally  opened.  The  register  of  1887  session  showed  the 
names  of  97  students,  and  in  addition  eleven  post-graduate  stu- 
dents. C.  S.  Fischer  was  valedictorian  of  the  graduating  class  of 
thirty.  On  March  7,  1887,  Dr.  Hutchinson  was  appointed  presi- 
dent of  the  collegiate  council,  but  he  died  on  the  17th  of  July 
following. 

A  large  four-story  building,  erected  on  the  hospital  grounds, 
intended  as  a  home  for  the  nurses  of  the  Training  School,  was 
opened  in  1887.  A  report  stated  that  ''a  prominent  feature  of  the 
wing  is  the  maternity,  which  is  of  special  construction  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  modem  midwifery. ' ' 

In  1888,  Regent  Henry  W.  Maxwell  established  the  Dudley 
Memorial  Medal,  ''in  loving  remembrance  of  the  late  Dr.  William 
H.  Dudley ; ' '  and  in  November  of  that  year,  the  institution  received 
the  sum  of  $10,000,  bequeathed  to  it  by  the  late  Mrs.  James  Hum- 
phrey. The  graduating  class  of  1888  numbered  36,  G.  W.  White 
being  valedictorian.  There  were  48  graduates  in  1889,  C.  A.  de  la 
Mesa  being  valedictorian. 

In  1889,  the  Hospital  was  made  the  recipient  of  a  legacy  of 
$3,000  bequeathed  by  John  James  Van  Nostrand,  one  of  the 
founders.  About  that  time,  several  extensions  were  made  to  the 
hospital  buildings,  and  the  old  dissecting  room  and  chemical  lab- 
oratory were  replaced  by  new  structures,  doubling  capacity.  In 
1890,  the  Regents  authorized  further  improvements,  the  plans 
including  the  erection  of  an  additional  story  on  the  Amity  street 
wing,  and  on  a  portion  of  the  building  between  the  wing  and  the 
centre  building.  The  cost  was  not  to  exceed  $25,000,  and,  while 
they  were  being  effected,  arrangements  were  entered  into  to  have 
the  use  of  the  lecture  room  of  the  Hoagland  Laboratory.  The 


522  MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 

graduating  class  of  1890  numbered  56,  the  valedictorian  being 
R.  W.  Kimball. 

The  session  of  1891  was  the  first  on  the  three-year  requirement 
for  graduation;  thereafter,  candidates  for  graduation  would  be 
required  to  attend  three  full  courses  of  lectures.  Notwithstanding 
this  more  exacting  system,  the  enrollment  of  that  year  was  quite 
substantial,  238  students  attending  the  lectures.  Eighty-two  grad- 
uated, H.  T.  Hotchkiss  being  valedictorian.  Dr.  Joshua  M.  Van 
Cott,  Jr.,  Lecturer  on  Histology  and  Pathological  Anatomy,  was 
appointed  the  professor  of  the  departments,  vice  Frank  Furgu- 
son,  M.  D.  The  institution  received  gifts  and  bequests  aggregating 
$15,000  during  the  year,  Mr.  H.  D.  Polhemus  donating  $5,000, 
and  the  estates  of  R.  P.  Buck  and  John  Ruszits  like  amounts. 
These  contributions  enabled  the  regents  to  pass  plans  for  further 
needed  building  additions,  the  cost  of  which  was  estimated  at 
$35,000. 

The  graduating  class  of  1892  numbered  64,  of  whom  Wm.  F. 
Campbell  was  valedictorian;  full  enrollment  was  245.  In  that 
year,  Mr.  T.  H.  Rodman,  president  of  the  Board  of  Regents,  died ; 
he  had  been  a  member  of  the  board  since  1858,  and  had  been  presi- 
dent since  1875.  The  regents  elected  Mr.  Thomas  S.  Moore  to 
the  presidency. 

Fifty-nine  students  graduated  in  1893 ;  in  1894,  56 ;  in  1895, 
70 ;  in  1896,  66 ;  the  valedictorians  of  these  years  were  F.  T.  Brooks, 
C.  R.  Hyde,  M.  Manley,  and  J.  P.  Becker,  respectively.  Notwith- 
standing the  more  difficult  curriculum  and  the  lengthened  course 
and  term,  the  enrollments  still  increased,  and  comparison  was 
drawn  in  1897  between  the  enrollment  for  1886,  when  122  students 
attended  the  lectures,  and  1896,  when  383  students  enrolled.  There 
was,  however,  a  particular,  and  urgent  reason  why  the  attendance 
m  1896  was  so  large;  it  had  been  announced  that  the  following 
year  would  inaugurate  the  four-year  graded  course.  Nevertheless, 
the  enrollment  augured  well  for  the  college. 

In  1895,  Mr.  Henry  D.  Polhemus  died;  he  had  been  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Regents  since  March  21,  1872,  and  had  subscribed 
very  liberally  to  the  cause. 

In  June  of  1897,  a  fair  was  held  in  behalf  of  the  hospital,  which 
as  a  result  profited  to  the  extent  of  $3,175.55.  On  October  3, 
the  four-year  graded  course  was  inaugurated.  The  announcements 
for  that  and  the  previous  year  had  made  it  known  that,  **begin- 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL  523 


ning  with  the  regular  term  of  1897-8,  the  course  of  instruction  will 
be  more  thoroughly  graded  than  heretofore,  and  will  consist,  for 
those  who  have  attended  no  course  of  lectures,  of  four  collegiate 
years,  each  beginning  the  last  Wednesday  of  September,  and  con- 
tinuing until  the  middle  of  May  following.  .  .  .  Law  provides 
that  those  who  do  not  graduate  before  January  1,  1902,  will  not 
receive  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  unless  four  years  of  study 
have  been  taken.  .  .  .  The  lengthening  of  the  regular  term,  and' 
the  adoption  of  the  graded  system  of  instruction  will  combine  the 
advantages  of  both  the  regular  and  the  reading  terms,  the  reading 
and  recitation  term  will  consequently  be  abolished,  and  merged 
in  the  regular  term."  In  1897,  68  students  graduated,  Charles 
Pelton  Hutchins  being  valedictorian;  in  1898,  72  graduated,  of 
which  class  N.  R.  Rathbun  was  valedictorian. 

Omng  mainly  to  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Frank  E.  West,  the  Guild 
of  the  Long  Island  College  Hospital"  was  organized  during  1897, 
and  commenced  its  most  useful  work  among  the  poor.  Another 
event  of  most  auspicious  consequence  to  the  institution  occurred 
that  year.  For  more  than  forty  years  the  Dispensary  had  been 
conducted  in  the  building  in  which  it  was  first  organized,  excepting 
for  the  period  during  which  it  was  known  as  the  German  General 
Dispensary.  Extensions  had  from  time  to  time  been  made,  but 
the  abnormal  increase  in  students  in  recent  years  made  expansion 
of  facilities  for  clinical  observation  imperative.  The  problem  had 
been  tabled  as  insoluble,  just  prior  to  the  time  when  announcement 
was  made  of  the  munificent  gift  to  the  hospital  by  Mrs.  Caroline 
H.  Polhemus,  of  Brooklyn,  widow  of  Henry  D.  Polhemus,  who 
until  1895,  when  he  died,  had  been  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Regents  since  1872.  In  his  memory,  Mrs.  Polhemus  presented  the 
College  with  a  building  to  be  known  as  the  Polhemus  Memorial 
Clinic,  and  devised  to  provide  accommodation  therein  for  both 
the  out-patient  and  medical  college  departments  of  the  Long 
Island  College  Hospital.  The  building  was  to  be  of  handsome 
exterior,  in  French  renaissance  design,  eight  stories  in  height,  the 
first  two  stories  to  be  entirely  of  Indiana  limestone,  and  the 
remainder  of  brick.  It  was  a  most  magnificent  benefaction,  and 
was  completed  regardless  of  expense  by  Mrs.  Polhemus,  the  heating 
plant  alone  costing  $50,000. 

In  1897,  the  Rev.  Charles  L.  Mitchell  established  a  prize,  in 
memory  of  his  father,  the  late  Dr.  Chauncey  L.  Mitchell,  for  many 


524 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


years  a  member  of  the  collegiate  council;  the  prize  was  to  be  an 
annual  one  of  medical  books  or  instruments,  to  the  value  of  $60. 
In  that  year  also,  Professor  W.  W.  Browning  established  a  fund  of 
$1,000,  the  interest  to  be  given  annually  to  the  student  most  effi- 
cient in  anatomy,  the  prize  to  be  known  as  the  '  *  Corydon  L.  Ford 
Prize." 

During  the  summer  of  1898,  the  Hospital  again  placed  its  facili- 
ties at  the  disposal  of  the  nation  and  of  United  States  soldiers. 
The  hospital  received  421,  of  whom  only  twelve  died  under  treat- 
ment, a  record  of  which  the  institution  is  proud. 

A  summer  course,  to  begin  at  Commencement  and  continue  for 
ten  weeks,  was  established  in  1899,  the  fee  for  which  course  was 
fixed  at  $30,  or  $8  for  any  one  branch.  For  the  regular  term  of 
that  year,  the  fees  underwent  revision,  the  course  of  lectures  and 
clinics  advancing  from  $100  to  $150  yearly,  with  $35  to  $40  addi- 
tional fees. 

In  1899,  Dr.  Alexander  J.  C.  Skene  became  president  of  the  Col- 
lege and  Dr.  Jarvis  S.  Wight  was  appointed  dean  of  the  faculty. 
Dr.  W.  W.  Browning,  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy,  was  advanced  to 
a  seat  in  the  faculty  as  Professor  of  Anatomy.  The  class  of  1899 
numbered  61  graduates.  The  total  enrollment  was  only  211,  as 
compared  with  383  of  1896. 

In  1901,  Professor  Edwin  A.  Lewis  entered  into  the  Emeritus 
Professorship  of  the  Department  of  Anatomy,  and  Dr.  William 
Francis  Campbell  became  Professor  of  that  department.  The 
graduates  for  1901  numbered  45,  187  students  attending  lectures 
that  year.  In  1902,  there  were  231  matriculants,  but  only  27  grad- 
uates. 

Plans  for  a  new  hospital  building  were  considered  in  1902,  its 
erection  being  made  possible  by  the  bequests  of  the  late  Henry  W. 
Maxwell.  Shortly  after  the  decease  of  Mr.  Maxwell,  his  brother, 
Mr.  J.  Rogers  Maxwell,  announced  his  intention  to  carry  forward 
his  brother's  unfinished  work,  and  to  complete  the  proposed  build- 
ing on  a  more  extensive  design.  The  construction  was  soon  after- 
wards commenced.  In  addition,  Mr.  Henry  W.  Maxwell  had  pur- 
chased a  plot  of  ground  on  the  opposite  corner,  and  had  begun  to 
erect  a  large  fireproof  Home  for  the  use  of  the  Training  School 
for  Nurses;  this  his  brother  announced  would  be  completed  by 
funds  of  the  late  Mr.  H.  W.  Maxwell's  estate. 

In  1904,  Dr.  John  A.  McCorkle  became  president,  and  Professor 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL  525 


John  D.  Rushmore,  of  the  Department  of  Operative  and  Clinical 
Surgery,  was  appointed  dean,  and  Dr.  Walter  C.  Wood  becajne 
Professor  of  Surgery.  The  enrollment  register  showed  a  substan- 
tial increase,  that  term  having  been  attended  by  375  students; 
the  graduating  class  of  1904  numbered  47.  The  following  season 
was  even  more  satisfactory,  the  lectures  attracting  416  students, 
and  the  graduating  class  of  1905  numbered  87,  with  C.  H.  Watson, 
valedictorian.  In  1906,  however,  there  were  only  341  matriculants, 
the  graduating  class  numbered  57,  and  the  valedictorian  was  C.  C. 
Haines.  The  next  session  (1907)  was  not  appreciably  better,  only 
351  students  attending,  the  year  seeing  87  students  graduate,  with 
F.  L.  McCrea  as  valedictorian. 

With  the  continual  expansion  of  the  curriculum,  the  expenses 
of  the  institution  and  the  size  of  the  corps  of  instructors  corre- 
spondingly increased,  and  the  council  and  the  regents  were  com- 
pelled to  advance  the  fees  for  instruction;  in  1909  the  fees  were: 
First  year,  $200 ;  second  year,  $205 ;  third  year,  $160 ;  fourth  year, 
$195;  total,  $760 — fees  which  did  not,  however,  exceed  those  of 
neighboring  professional  colleges.  And  that  the  school  was  favored 
by  prospective  students  may  be  inferred  from  the  enrollment  fig- 
ures, which  at  that  time  compared  favorably  with  those  of  some 
other  colleges.  The  register  for  1909  showed  an  attendance  of  350 
students,  of  whom  82  graduated,  H.  A.  Fisher  being  valedictorian. 
In  1910  session  there  were  366  matriculants,  with  66  graduates, 
W.  G.  Siegel  having  place  as  valedictorian. 

In  1912,  Dr.  John  0.  Polak  became  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and 
Gynecology,  vice  Dr.  Charles  Jewett.  The  announcement  for  that 
session  stated  that  the  requirements  for  admission  to  the  freshman 
class  were  becoming  more  exacting.  Students  in  the  fall  of  1913 
would  be  required  to  file  with  the  secretary  of  the  faculty:  1.  A 
New  York  State  medical  certificate.  2.  A  certificate  of  at  least 
one  year's  work  in  chemistry,  ajid  in  physics,  including  laboratory 
work  in  a  school  registered  by  the  Regents  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  3.  Evidence  of  having  passed  the  Regents'  examination  on 
these  topics;  in  default,  students  would  be  required  to  pass  an 
entrance  examination  in  chemistry  and  in  physics,  at  the  Long 
Island  College  Hospital. 

The  graduating  class  of  1912  numbered  68,  out  of  a  full  enroll- 
ment for  that  session  of  422  students ;  the  valedictorian  was  J.  B. 
D'Albora.    For  the  session  of  1913-14,  J.  C.  Cardwell,  formerly 


526 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Associate  Professor  of  Physiology,  is  listed  with  the  faculty  as 
Professor  of  Physiology,  in  that  year's  announcement,  to  take  over 
the  duties  of  the  department  from  Professor  Joseph  H.  Raymond, 
who  became  Emeritus  Professor  of  Physiology.  The  Annual  An- 
nouncement makes  reference  to  the  ''north  wing  of  hospital,  in 
process  of  erection,  which  when  completed  will  increase  the  capac- 
ity of  the  hospital  to  474  beds."  Graduating  class,  1913,  69; 
valedictorian,  W.  F.  McKenna. 

In  1914,  in  an  endeavor  to  qualify  students  for  entrance  for  the 
regular  term  of  that  year,  the  faculty  inaugurated  a  medical  pre- 
liminary course,  of  thirty-two  weeks,  the  course  being  devoted  to 
instruction  in  physics,  chemistry  and  biology,  elementary  physiol- 
ogy, and  German  or  French.  This  constituted  what  in  reality  is 
the  addition  of  a  fifth  year  to  the  medical  course,  such  as  had  for 
many  years  been  advocated  by  the  faculties  of  many  medical  col- 
leges, who  found  it  almost  impossible  to  crowd  into  the  four-year 
course  adequate  instruction  in  all  the  branches  of  medical  science 
a  graduate  should  know. 

The  graduating  class  of  1914  number  79,  of  which  class  A.  L. 
Harris  was  valedictorian.  There  were  some  important  changes  in 
the  faculty  during  1914.  Dr.  Archibald  Murray  was  appointed 
Professor  of  Pathology;  Dr.  "William  Lentz  became  Professor  of 
Bacteriology,  dividing  the  department  held  by  Dr.  Joshua  M. 
Van  Cott,  Emeritus  Professor,  and  Matthew  Steel,  B.  S.,  M.  S., 
Ph.  D.,  became  Professor  of  Organic  and  Physiological  Chemistry^. 
Dr.  William  B.  Brinsmade  was  appointed  Professor  of  Clinical 
Surgery,  and  Dr.  Adam  M.  Miller,  Professor  of  Anatomy,  in  the 
place  of  Professor  Wm.  Francis  Campbell,  who  accepted  the  chair 
of  Surgery  when  Dr.  Walter  C.  Wood  became  Emeritus  Professor. 

There  were  71  graduates  in  the  1915  class,  and  also  six  additional 
graduates  of  the  1913-14  class.  The  enrollment  for  the  1914-15 
course  included:  Premedical  class,  51  students;  Freshman  class, 
32  students;  Sophomore  class,  85  students;  Junior  class,  90  stu- 
dents ;  Senior  class,  79  students,  making  a  total  enrollment  of  337. 

In  reviewing  the  achievements  of  the  institution  during  its  fifty- 
eight  years  of  existence  and  useful  service,  those  who  have  been, 
or  are,  connected  with  the  College-Hospital  must  feel  quite  satis- 
fied with  the  place  it  has  made  for  itself  among  the  institutions 
of  the  great  city  of  New  York,  and  the  borough  of  Brooklyn. 
Leslie's  ''History  of  Greater  New  York,"  in  a  few  paragraphs 


LONG  ISLAND  COLLEGE  HOSPITAL  527 


devoted  to  the  institution,  wrote  the  following  of  the  Long  Island 
College  Hospital:  ''With  perhaps  pardonable  partiality,  it  is  the 
conviction  of  many  Brooklyn  men  that  these  combined  buildings 
and  facilities  for  teaching  the  art  of  medicine  which  they  afford, 
in  the  hands  of  the  scientific  body  of  men  who  compose  its  faculty 
and  managers,  provide  a  teaching  plant  unsurpassed  by  any  in 
the  country.'* 


CHAPTER  VI 


NEW  YORK  HOMCEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  AND 
FLOWER  HOSPITAL 

A    LTHOUGH  New  York  holds  the  distinction  of  having 


established  the  first  homoeopathic  dispensary  in  America, 


the  same  premier  place  cannot  be  claimed  for  the  city  in 
respect  to  homoeopathic  medical  college  establishment;  in  1852, 
there  were  more  than  three  hundred  homoeopathic  physicians  en- 
gaged in  practice  in  the  City  of  New  Yotk,  yet  the  nearest  homoeo- 
pathic medical  schools  were  outside  the  State,  in  Allentown  and 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania.  This,  notwithstanding  that  it  was  in 
New  York  City  that  Gram,  in  1825,  first  introduced  the  homoeo- 
pathic system. 

In  1849,  a  number  of  homoeopathic  practitioners  of  the  city 
endeavored  to  initiate  a  movement  to  give  the  chief  city  of  the  na- 
tion its  rightful  place  in  respect  to  this  branch  of  science.  They 
were  dissatisfied  that  medical  students,  who  after  graduating  would 
practice  according  to  the  doctrines  of  Hahnemann  within  the 
borders  of  their  native  State  of  New  York,  should  be  compelled 
to  proceed  to  the  professional  schools  of  other  States  for  their 
medical  instruction.  So,  on  November  17th,  1849,  at  the  office 
of  Dr.  John  Augustus  McVickar,  in  New  York  City,  at  a  meeting 
of  homoeopathic  physicians,  Dr.  Federal  Vanderburgh  moved  ' '  that 
it  is  expedient  for  the  homoeopathic  physicians  of  New  York  to 
apply  to  the  Legislature  at  its  next  session  for  a  charter  for  another 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  to  be  located  in  the  city  of 
New  York."  It  was  not  considered  expedient  fo  specifically  men- 
tion in  the  negotiation  with  the  State  Legislature  that  the  intention 
of  the  promoters  was  to  establish  a  college  devoted  exclusively  to 
the  teaching  of  homoeopathic  medicine;  such  a  statement  would 
probably  have  defeated  the  measure,  as  at  that  time  certain  preju- 
dices still  lingered,  and  the  Legislature  was,  it  was  stated,  ''domi- 
nated and  completely  influenced  by  the  hosts  of  the  allopathic 
school. ' '   Dr.  Joslin  presided,  and  present  were  thirty-three  physi- 


528 


HOMOEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  529 


cians,  including  a  Dr.  Donovan,  who  offered  an  amendment  to 
Dr.  Vanderburgh 's  resolution ;  Dr.  Donovan  wished  a  direct  appli- 
cation to  be  made  to  the  State  Legislature  for  the  establishment 
of  a  ''School  of  Homoeopathy  to  be  attached  to  the  University; 
with  power  to  confer  degrees  authorizing  the  practice  of  homoeopa- 
thy, on  persons  who  have  already  taken  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
medicine."  The  amendment  was  defeated,  but  on  motion  of  Dr. 
Donovan  a  committee  of  five  was  to  be  constituted  to  take  measures 
for  the  founding  of  a  medical  college.  Drs.  Metcalf,  Gray,  Kirby, 
Joslin,  and  Vanderburgh,  as  such  committee,  reported  on  Novem- 
ber 24th,  1849 ;  the  report  was,  after  discussion,  ' '  laid  upon  the 
table  for  the  present."  So  ended  the  first  attempt  to  initiate  the 
project  for  a  homoeopathic  school  of  medicine.  Apparently,  the 
projectors  despaired  of  obtaining  from  the  Legislature  of  that  time 
the  necessary  powers. 

At  a  later  date,  it  was  resolved  to  perfect  an  organization  to  be 
incorporated,  ' '  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  the  science  of  medicine, 
and  of  receiving  the  power  of  conferring  degrees  and  granting 
licenses  to  practice. ' '  This  organization  eventually  came  into  opera- 
tion as  the  Hahnemann  Academy  of  Medicine,  but  its  main  object 
was  never  accomplished.  However,  it  brought  into  being  a  most 
useful  factor ;  the  officers  and  supporters  of  the  Academy  were  the 
most  effective  agents  in  creating  the  Homoeopathic  Medical  Society 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  which  through  its  efforts  became  of  State- 
wide infiuence.  Several  attempts  were  made  to  further  the  college 
idea,  without  direct  success,  although  eventually  the  laws  of  the 
State  enabled  the  examination  of  candidates  for  license  to  practice 
to  be  undertaken  through  the  processes  of  the  State  societies. 

The  Hahnemann  Academy  of  Medicine  for  a  short  time  operated 
with  limited  powers;  it  maintained  lecture  courses,  mainly  to  in- 
struct physicians  who  had  become  converts  from  the  allopathic  to 
the  homoeopathic  method;  its  secondary  object  was  "to  open  the 
way  for  the  medical  education  of  students  until  such  time  as  a 
college  charter  should  be  secured  with  power  to  confer  the  doctor's 
degree. ' ' 

The  Academy  does  not  come  directly  into  association  with  the 
college  movement  which  was  promoted  about  1853 ;  nor  with  that  of 
1858,  which  resulted  in  the  founding  of  the  New  York  Homoeo- 
pathic Medical  College;  in  fact,  it  is  on  record  that  "the  college 
movement  of  1852-53  was  set  in  motion  by  influences  quite  inde- 


530  MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 

pendent  of  the  Academy,  although  a  majority  of  those  who  took 
part  in  the  deliberations  of  that  body  appeared  to  favor  the  new 
enterprise. ' '  The  Academy  members  in  February,  1853,  took  formal 
action  on  the  solicitation  of  the  State  Society,  and  sought  to  ob- 
tain the  support  of  the  Academy  body ;  on  the  date  named,  on  mo- 
tion of  Dr.  Gray,  seconded  by  Dr.  Curtis,  the  Hahnemann  Academy 
of  Medicine  adopted  a  resolution  recording  its  opinion  that  it 
was  ^'not  expedient  to  pray  the  Legislature  for  a  medical  fran- 
chise or  monopoly,"  averring  that  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Med- 
icine could  better  be  dispensed  by  a  board  of  examiners  appointed 
by  the  State  Medical  Society.  However,  the  State  Society  having, 
at  a  special  session  in  1852,  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the 
expediency  of  establishing  such  an  institution,  determined  to  sup- 
port the  findings  of  the  committee  to  the  full  extent  of  its  power. 
The  committee  (Messrs.  Ball,  Beakley,  Chase,  Humphreys  and 
Childs)  presented  its  report,  the  spirit  of  which  was  contained  in 
one  of  its  sentences:  ''If  homoeopathy  be  the  truth  in  medicine, 
we  know  of  no  logic  by  which  we  can  escape  from  the  conclusion 
that  it  is  as  much  our  duty  to  teach  it  as  it  is  to  practise  it. ' '  The 
Society  forthwith  now  proceeded  with  the  project.  In  the  follow- 
ing year,  however,  a  spirit  of  dissension  appeared  among  the  pro- 
moters, which,  aided  by  ''outside  antagonistic  influences,"  de- 
feated the  objects  sought. 

Anterior  to  that,  the  Society  appointed  a  committee  to  nominate 
a  board  of  trustees,  to  prpcure  a  charter,  and  to  raise  funds  for 
the  establishment  of  a  medical  college,  but  this  committee  ap- 
peared to  have  reported  adversely  to  the  Society,  as  the  project 
was  soon  abandoned.  The  committee's  report,  signed  by  Drs. 
Alonzo  S.  Ball,  Stephen  R.  Kirby,  attributed  their  failure  to  the 
difficulty  of  securing  a  suitable  board  of  trustees,  "all  of  those 
most  suitable  being  already  engaged  in  an  effort  to  establish  a 
hospital  for  the  treatment  of  diseases  homoeopathically ; "  and 
from  a  recognition  that  "the  people  are  not  yet  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted witjh  the  superiority  of  the  homoeopathic  practice." 
The  report  referred  to  the  Homoeopathic  College  of  Pennsylvania, 
which,  it  pointed  out,  "had  had  to  struggle  with  many  difficul- 
ties." Therefore,  the  committee  recommended  the  Society  to 
discourage  "the  multiplication  of  homoeopathic  colleges,"  and 
also  because  experience  in  the  allopathic  school  taught  that  "this 
sort  of  rivalry  diminishes  the  value  of  the  diploma  in  the  public 


HOMCEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  531 


estimation."  Respecting  this  report,  it  was  resolved  ''that  the 
further  consideration  of  the  subject  be  postponed"  thereby- 
closing  the  second  chapter  of  the  endeavors  to  establish  a  homoeo- 
pathic medical  college  in  New  York  City. 

Certain  medical  men,  however,  held  tenaciously  to  the  idea, 
and  developed  the  mission  quietly  but  determinedly  during  the 
next  five  years.  In  the  interim  between  the  second  and  third 
attempts  to  found  the  college,  the  Hahnemann  Academy  of  Medi- 
cine continued  its  existence,  spreading  the  understanding  of 
homoeopathy  appreciably,  and  still  held  to  its  hope  to  ultimately 
secure  State  authority  to  itself  confer  degrees,  without  success, 
however,  ''despite  the  fact  that  its  committees  kept  themselves 
at  the  doors  of  the  Legislature,  with  petitions  to  that  end." 

The  State  Society  also  at  each  annual  meeting  gave  prominent 
place  to  discussions  bearing  on  the  subject,  and  in  1859  the  agita- 
tion again  took  definite  form.  It  was  decided  to  endeavor  to 
harmonize  all  the  conflicting  elements  of  the  homoeopathic  school 
in  the  State;  and  procure  the  co-operation  of  all  auxiliary  socie- 
ties. The  Academy,  however,  still  withheld  its  cordial  support, 
and  on  March  2,  1859,  President  Barlow  submitted  a  communica- 
tion from  Dr.  Paine,  of  Albany,  "relating  to  the  Hahnemann 
College  Bill  now  pending  before  the  Legislature."  Dr.  Guernsey 
thought  that  the  Academy  could  not  take  action  in  the  matter, 
while  Dr.  Freleigh  openly  opposed  the  bill;  and  the  academic 
body  by  resolution  directed  its  secretary,  Dr.  John  M.  E.  Wetmore 
(Dr.  Leach,  pro  tem.),  to  inform  Dr.  Paine  that  the  Hahnemann 
Academy  of  Medicine  have  no  information  and  know  nothing  about 
the  charter  or  institution  whatever. 

The  opposition,  or,  to  be  more  correct,  the  cold  indifference,  of 
the  Academy  faculty  and  managers,  did  not,  however,  then  carry 
the  weight  it  formerly  had;  the  State  Society  was  becoming  more 
influential,  and  was  aided  substantially  by  another  influential 
professional  body  then  recently  established  and  subordinate  to 
the  State  Society.  The  New  York  County  Homoeopathic  Medical 
Society  had  become  a  known  factor  and  "an  influential  advocate 
of  progress."  Also,  homoeopathy  was  becoming  more  into  public 
favor,  and  it  was  now  possible  "to  enlist  the  co-operation  of 
business  men  of  influence  and  means,  without  being  compelled  to 
depend  on  the  slender  means  and  less  practical  knowledge  of 
those  whose  avocations  in  life  gave  them  little   experience  in 


532 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


business  methods."  But  strong  opposition  to  the  proposed  legis- 
lation was  presented  by  the  allopathic  interests,  and  the  ''Hahne- 
mann College  Bill"  was  not  passed  during  that  session  of  the 
Legislature.  The  delay,  however,  enabled  the  projectors  to  perfect 
their  organization,  and  to  initiate  educational  propaganda,  which, 
with  ''quiet  earnest  missionary  work,"  so  effectively  prepared 
the  way  that  on  April  12th,  1860,  a  special  act  of  the  Legislature 
granted  a  charter  of  incorporation  to  the  "Homoeopathic  Medical 
College  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  New  York  City." 

It  is  difficult  to  individualize  in  accrediting  those  responsible 
for  the  founding  of  the  Medical  College;  many  prominent  pro- 
fessionals of  city  and  State  were  indefatigable  in  their  efforts. 
The  prime  movers,  however,  belonged  to  the  State  and  County 
societies,  acting  on  the  initiative  of  a  few  determined  leaders, 
among  whom  was  Beakley,  then  recently  from  the  chair  of  sur- 
gery and  the  deanship  of  the  old  Homoeopathic  Medical  College 
of  Pennsylvania,  who  had  sufficient  confidence  in  the  "trend  of 
public  sentiment  in  the  larger  city"  to  resign  his  official  con- 
nection with  the  Philadelphia  college,  and  remove  to  New  York, 
so  that  he  might  become  identified  with  the  organizing  forces. 
Another  prominent  leader  was  Ward,  also  a  professor  of  the 
Philadelphia  school.  There  were  many  others,  "and  all  of  them 
worthy  founders  and  college  builders." 

The  act  to  incorporate  "The  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  in  New  York  City"  specifically  names: 
Hollis  White,  A.  Oakey  Hall,  Daniel  F.  Tiemann,  Cyrus  W. 
Field,  Benj.  F.  Pinckney,  James  M.  Smith,  Jr.,  Abram  B.  Conger, 
Henry  Nicoll,  Horace  H.  Day,  Francis  A.  Hall,  Gordon  W.  Bum- 
ham,  Chas.  L.  Frost,  David  Austin,  Jr.,  Wm.  Barton,  John  Hag- 
gerty,  Chas.  E.  Milner,  Lot.  C.  Clark,  Fred.  L.  Talcott,  James 
F.  Hall,  John  P.  Brown,  J.  M.  Cooper,  H.  L.  Van  Wyck,  P.  M. 
Suydam,  "and  their  associates,"  who  were  constituted  a  body 
corporate,  "for  the  purpose  of  instruction  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  medical  science."  The  charter  empowered  the  corpora- 
tion to  hold  and  possess  real  and  personal  estate  to  the  amount  of 
$100,000;  it  provided  that  the  gentlemen  named  be  appointed 
trustees,  who  were  authorized  to  grant  and  confer  the  degree  of 
doctor  of  homoeopathic  medicine  upon  the  recommendation  of 
the  professors  of  the  college,  excepting  to  persons  who  had  not 
attained  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  had  not  pursued  the  study 


HOMCEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  533 


of  medical  science  for  at  least  three  years  after  the  age  of  sixteen 
years  with  some  physician  and  surgeon  "duly  authorized  by  law 
to  practice  his  profession,"  and  had  not  attended  two  complete 
courses  of  all  the  lectures  delivered  in  some  incorporated  medical 
college,  the  last  of  which  courses  was  to  have  been  at  the  college 
granting  the  diploma.  The  college  was  subject  to  the  visitation  of 
the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  to  which 
body  it  was  bound  to  report  annually. 

The  task  of  the  trustees  was  not  an  easy  one,  but  they  applied 
themselves  with  energy,  and  laid  the  basis  of  the  college  firmly, 
not  hesitating,  when  financial  pressure  demanded  it,  to  apply 
their  private  financial  resources  to  the  purposes  of  the  institu- 
tion, thus  setting  ''an  example  which  their  successors  in  office 
have  followed  with  becoming  generosity. ' '  From  the  outset,  it  was 
the  intention  to  eventually  embrace  within  the  facilities  of  the 
institution  a  hospital  wherein  the  students  might  obtain  clinical 
and  bedside  instruction.  The  trustees  therefore  decided  to  locate 
the  college  in  the  business  district,  and  selected  No.  116  East 
20th  street  as  "comfortable  quarters,"  where  dispensary  activ- 
ities, as  preliminary  to  the  hospital  intention,  might  be  developed. 

During  the  summer  of  1860  was  issued  the  first  Prospectus 
and  Announcement  of  the  college,  which  informed  the  public 
that  on  October  15th  of  that  year  the  college  would  open  for  its 
first  session,  with  a  faculty  constituted  as  follows:  Jacob  Beakley, 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  Surgery;  Isaac  M.  "Ward,  M.  D.,  Professor 
of  Obstetrics;  William  E.  Payne,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Prin- 
ciples and  Practice  of  Homceopathic  Medicine ;  Franklin  W.  Hunt, 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine;  Matthew  Semple,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Toxicology ;  Stephen  R.  Kirby,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics;  John  D.  L.  Mon- 
tagnie,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Anatomy ;  William  W.  Rodman,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  Physiology.  Dr.  Beakman  was  chosen  dean.  The 
Prospectus  and  Announcement  stated  the  determination  of  the 
faculty  to  provide  that  "no  medical  institution  in  our  country 
shall  be  better  prepared  to  impart  a  thorough  medical  education 
than  the  New  York  Homoeopathic  Medical  College;"  it  stated 
further  "that  the  law  of  similia  similihus  curantur^'  would  be 
thoroughly  upheld,  but  that  students  would  be  instructed  in  all 
that  pertained  to  both  the  allopathic  and  homoeopathic  systems 
of  medicine. 


534 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


At  the  opening  of  the  first  session,  October  15,  1860,  59  students 
presented  themselves,  and  at  the  close  of  the  session  29,  having 
complied  with  the  regulations  relative  to  prior  instruction  under 
physicians  in  practice,  and  also  instruction  for  one  term  in  an- 
other school  of  medicine,  were  granted  the  medical  degree.  This 
first  class  embraced:  H.  J.  Coleman,  W.  C.  Coulton,  F.  G. 
Coulton,  H.  H.  Darling,  A.  C.  Fletcher,  E.  M.  French,  Charles 
Hait,  J.  W.  Hunton,  H.  S.  Hutchings,  B.  Lasins,  E.  D.  Leonard, 
N.  A.  Mosman,  William  Murrill,  W.  M.  Pratt,  G.  H.  Parkhurst, 
W.  M.  Payne,  C.  J.  Rosenburg,  E.  B.  Schley,  C.  W.  Skiff,  S.  A. 
Smith,  E.  W.  Starn,  A.  H.  Thompson,  N.  H.  Travers,  C.  S. 
Verdi,  H.  J.  Whittlesay,  W.  W.  Munn,  and  S.  H.  Worcester. 

In  the  second  session.  Dr.  Kirby,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica 
and  Therapeutics,  was  transferred  to  the  department  of  Medical 
Jurisprudence  and  Toxicology,  and  Dr.  Hunt,  Professor  of  Clin- 
ical Medicine,  became  head  of  the  department  of  Materia  Medica. 
Drs.  Payne,  Semple,  Montagnie  and  Rodman  were  absent  from 
the  faculty,  D.  D.  Smith  receiving  appointment  to  the  professor- 
ship of  Chemistry  and  Physiology,  and  John  Ellis  to  that  of 
Principles  and  Practice  of  Homoeopathic  Medicine.  The  grad- 
uating class  numbered  22,  and  the  papers  presented  by  the  suc- 
cessful students  covered  almost  the  entire  range  of  medical  sub- 
jects. 

During  the  third  session  (1863-64),  Dr.  Egbert  Guernsey  occu- 
pied the  chair  of  Materia  Medica,  vice  Dr.  Hunt,  retired,  and 
Dr.  Smith  lectured  on  toxicology  in  addition  to  chemistry,  phys- 
iology having  been  merged  in  other  professional  work.  The  grad- 
uating class  was  equal  to  that  of  the  previous  year.  The  fourth  ses- 
sion of  1863-64  inaugurated  many  improvements  in  the  curriculum, 
and  in  the  arrangement  of  the  departments.  Dr.  Beakley,  Pro- 
fessor of  Surgery,  became  Professor  of  Surgery,  Surgical  Anat- 
omy and  Pathology;  Dr.  Ward,  Professor  of  Obstetrics,  added 
'''Diseases  of  Women  and  Children"  to  his  designation  and  depart- 
ment; Dr.  Guernsey  became  Professor  of  the  Principles  and 
Practice  of  Medicine;  Dr.  Smith's  responsibility  included  the 
classes  in  Chemistry,  Physiologj^  and  Toxicology;  Dr.  Carmichael 
had  charge  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology;  Dr.  Kirby,  of  Medical 
Jurisprudence;  Dr.  Bradford,  of  Materia  Medica  and  Thera- 
peutics; and  Dr.  Melville  Bryant  became  Demonstrator  of  Anat- 
omy.  Radical  changes  were  effected  in  the  personnel  of  the  board 


HOMCEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  535 


of  trustees;  the  original  board  was  named  in  charter,  and  of 
their  number  Daniel  F.  Tiemann  was  president;  Benj.  F.  Pinck- 
ney,  vice-president;  Horace  H.  Day,  treasurer,  and  J.  F.  Hall, 
secretary.  In  1861  the  following  were  elected :  A.  Vanderpool, 
D.  D.  Field,  Jona.  Sturges,  Chas.  Butler,  John  P.  Crosby,  Wm. 
H.  Ludlow,  Wm.  Thomas,  Edmund  Dwight,  Andrew  Thorp,  E.  V. 
Houghwout,  M.  Lefferts,  J.  Bissell,  J.  Lord,  M.  H.  Grinnell,  and 
Robt.  M.  Strebeigh.  In  1862  William  C.  Bryant,  C.  H.  Marshall, 
William  De  Groot  and  Frank  E.  Howe  joined  the  board.  In  that 
year  also  President  Tiemann  resigned,  and  William  CuUen  Bryant 
was  elected  to  the  office,  which  he  held  with  much  ability  for  ten 
years.  The  introduction  of  so  much  *'new  blood"  introduced 
different  ideas  of  management,  but  the  subsequent  effect  demon- 
strated the  change  to  have  been  much  to  its  advantage.  The 
institution  was  feeling  the  depressing  results  of  the  Civil  War, 
then  at  its  height,  but  the  trustees  held  firmly  to  their  purpose, 
determined  to  build  the  college  upon  a  solid  financial  base,  and 
the  faculty  sought  incessantly  to  elevate  the  standard  of  instruc- 
tion. The  fourth  annual  prospectus  stated  that  "the  faculty, 
actuated  by  no  mercenary  or  selfish  motives,  have  entered  upon 
this  good  work  with  an  earnest  and  hopeful  zeal  to  place  this 
institution  upon  the  broad  and  elevated  platform  of  an  enlight- 
ened and  progressive  science,  in  the  hope  that  it  shall  be  unsur- 
passed by  any  medical  institution  in  the  country,  in  the  com- 
pleteness of  its  curriculum  of  instruction,  and  in  its  practical 
advantages  for  acquiring  a  thorough  and  accomplished  medical 
education."  It  was  stated  that  the  institution  had  secured  by  a 
special  act  of  the  legislature,  the  right  to  its  students  ' '  to  walk  the 
wards  of  Bellevue  Hospital,  and  all  the  great  charities  on  Black- 
weirs  and  Randall's  islands,  where  almost  every  disease  may 
be  seen  and  studied  in  its  varied  stages." 

During  the  Civil  War,  many  institutions  were  compelled  to 
suspend.  But  the  New  York  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  had 
a  greater  enrollment  of  students  at  the  opening  of  the  session 
of  1863-64  than  in  any  previous  year,  the  matriculants  number- 
ing 79,  of  whom  26  graduated.  The  succeeding  session,  how- 
ever, had  a  lesser  number,  only  67  attending  lectures,  during 
which  Dr.  Samuel  Barlow  accepted  the  chair  of  Materia  Medica 
and  Therapeutics,  then  rendered  vacant  by  the  resignation  of 
Dr.  Bradford.    Thirty-eight  diplomas  were  conferred  at  the  1865 


536 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Commencement.    Seventy-four  students  attended  the  session  of 

1865-  66,  at  the  termination  of  which  40  graduated.  In  that  year, 
Dr.  Matthew  Semple  became  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Toxicol- 
ogy.   There  were  eighty   matriculants  in  the  seventh  session, 

1866-  67.  The  development  of  the  departments  necessitated  an 
increased  corps  of  instructors.  Profs.  Beakley  and  Smith  con- 
tinued their  former  capacities;  the  department  of  Medical  Juris- 
prudence, of  which  Professor  Kirby  had  charge,  was  changed  in 
name  to  that  of  Forensic  Medicine;  Profs.  Barlow  and  Semple 
retained  their  former  appointments;  Dr.  Guernsey  resigned  the 
chair  of  Theory  and  Practice,  Dr.  Hunt  returning  and  taking 
the  department,  which  was  changed  in  name  to  Institutes  and 
Practice;  Dr.  H.  D.  Paine  became  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine 
and  Special  Pathology;  Dr.  Henry  M.  Smith,  Professor  of  Dem- 
onstrative Physiology;  Dr.  T.  F.  Allen,  Professor  of  General  and 
Microscopic  Anatomy;  Dr.  J.  B.  Holtby,  Prosector  of  Surgery; 
Dr.  Ira  Remsen,  Assistant  Chemist ;  Dr.  A.  P.  Troop,  Demonstrator 
of  Anatomy.  At  the  Commencement  of  1867,  38  regular  and  two 
special  degrees  were  conferred. 

The  eighth  session  (1867-68)  recorded  the  largest  enrollment 
of  its  history  up  to  that  year,  86.  In  the  Announcement  the 
council  (by  which  name  the  board  of  trustees  was  then  desig- 
nated) commented  upon  ''the  success  which  had  attended  the 
institution,"  and  expressed  ''high  expectations  of  increased  use- 
fulness in  the  future."  Both  the  council  and  faculty  expressed 
their  deep  sorrow  that  Prof.  Semple,  a  valued  co-laborer  and 
capable  instructor,  had  died.  This  vacancy  in  the  faculty  was 
filled  by  the  appointment  of  Dr.  J.  J.  Mitchell  to  the  combined 
chairs  of  Chemistry  and  Toxicology.  In  the  readjustment,  Dr. 
Hunt  was  assigned  to  the  chair  of  Institutes  and  Practice;  Dr. 
H.  M.  Smith,  to  the  chair  of  Physiology  and  Histology ;  Dr.  P.  P. 
"Wells,  to  the  chair  of  Practice  of  Medicine ;  Dr.  Carroll  Dunham, 
to  Clinical  Medicine ;  Dr.  Holtby  took  the  position  of  Demonstrator 
of  Anatomy,  formerly  filled  by  Dr.  Troop;  Dr.  William  Brinck 
became  Prosector  of  Surgery,  vice  Holtby;  and  Dr.  J.  H.  Osborn 
displaced  Dr.  Remsen  as  Assistant  Chemist.  The  faculty  was 
now  increased  to  ten;  of  its  members,  Drs.  Wells,  Dunham,  and 
Mitchell  were  in  their  first  year  of  service. 

Just  prior  to  that  session,  the  trustees  had  been  successful  in 
an  endeavor  to  institute  closer  relations  between  the  College  and 


HOMCEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  537 


the  New  York  Ophthalmic  Hospital,  which  resulted  in  the  removal 
of  the  medical  department  to  the  building  occupied  by  the  latt%r. 
In  referring  to  the  association  of  interests  thus  established,  the 
announcement  of  that  year  stated:  ''The  Trustees  of  the  New 
York  Ophthalmic  Hospital  have  placed  that  institution  under  the 
exclusive  charge  of  homoeopathic  practitioners.  Three  of  the 
board  of  physicians  and  surgeons  are  professors  in  this  college, 
the  students  of  which  will  thus  enjoy  especial  opportunities  of 
acquiring  a  practical  knowledge  of  diseases  and  injuries  of  the 
eye,  and  their  medical  and  surgical  treatment."  The  advantages 
of  the  alliance  were  manifest  from  the  outset,  although  complete 
fusion  of  the  two  institutions  was  not  intended;  primarily,  the 
arrangement  was  a  temporary  expedient,  and  the  occupancy  of 
the  hospital  as  the  home  of  the  College,  which  continued  thereat 
for  some  years,  was  prompted  mainly  to  ''conserve  faculty  inter- 
ests" of  those  of  its  professors  who  taught  in  both  institutions. 

The  graduates  for  the  eighth  session  numbered  42,  but  in 
1868-69,  only  30.  In  that  session,  the  ninth,  which  closed  what 
may  be  termed  the  first  era  in  the  history  of  the  College,  there 
was  some  rearrangement  of  departments,  the  faculty,  as  then  con- 
stituted, comprising  eleven  professors  who  performed  the  duties 
of  eight  chairs.  The  division  of  duties  was  as  follows:  Jacob 
Beakley,  Surgery  and  Surgical  Pathology;  D.  D.  Smith  and  E.  M. 
Kellogg,  Obstetrics  and  Gynaecology;  Samuel  B.  Barlow  and  Car- 
roll Dunham,  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics;  P.  P.  Wells  and 
A.  R.  Morgan,  Practice  of  Medicine;  F.  W.  Hunt,  medical  juris- 
prudence and  Physiological  Diseases ;  Henry  M.  Smith,  Physiology ; 
T.  F.  Allen,  General  and  Microscopic  Anatomy;  J.  J.  Mitchell, 
Chemistry  and  Toxicology;  J.  B.  Holtby,  Demonstrator  of  Ana- 
tomy; "William  Brinck,  Prosector  of  Surgery;  G.  B.  I.  Mitchell, 
Assistant  Chemist. 

During  that  era,  an  important  allied  organization  came  into 
being.  Students  formed  the  Hahnemann  Society  of  the  New  York 
Homoeopathic  Medical  College,  the  main  purpose  being  a  "quiz" 
class  upon  the  lectures  delivered  by  the  faculty.  The  students 
appointed  professors  from  their  number,  and  at  the  end  of  each 
session,  on  the  evening  preceding  the  college  commencement,  the  so- 
ciety held  its  annual  exercises,  called  its  commencement,  at  which 
diplomas,  signed  by  officers  of  the  society,  were  presented  to  mem- 
bers belonging  to  the  graduating  class  of  the  year. 


538 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


On  April  14,  1869,  the  Legislature  granted  an  amended  charter, 
authorizing  change  of  name  to  ''The  New  York  Homoeopathic 
Medical  College";  it  constituted  John  Bissell,  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  William  Groot,  Edmund  Dwight,  Theo.  W.  Dwight,  Chas. 
E.  Frame,  Geo.  Griswold,  A.  Oakey  Hall,  Edward  H.  Robinson, 
James  M.  Smith,  Jona.  Sturges,  H.  N.  Twombly,  John  D.  Van 
Buren,  Benj.  H.  Walcott,  Salem  H.  Wales,  Horace  Webster,  Alex. 
Wilder,  ''and  their  successors,"  the  corporation  of  said  college, 
with  full  powers  as  trustees  to  appoint  a  faculty,  also  a  board  of 
censors,  not  less  than  three  in  number,  none  of  whom  shall  be 
a  professor  or  instructor  in  said  college,  to  examine  and  recom- 
mend candidates  for  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine;  it  em- 
powered the  trustees  to  confer  degrees ;  and  the  charter  made  valid 
all  diplomas  previously  issued  by  the  college,  a  most  important 
provision,  as  it  was  discovered  that  every  diploma  issued  to  grad- 
uates of  the  nine  sessions  was  invalid,  because  it  had  conferred 
the  degree  of  "Doctor  of  Medicine,"  instead  of  "Doctor  of 
Homoeopathic  Medicine,"  as  provided  by  original  charter. 

The  faculty  for  the  tenth  session  (1869-70)  was  reorganized 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  new  charter.  Prof. 
Beakley  was  retained  as  dean  and  Professor  of  Surgery,  but  Drs. 
Kellogg,  Dunham,  Morgan,  Wells,  Henry  M.  Smith,  Allen,  and 
J.  J.  Mitchell  passed  out  of  the  faculty.  The  new  appointments 
included :  J ames  H.  Ward,  Practice ;  Henry  N.  Avery,  Physiology ; 
Alex.  H.  Laidlaw,  Anatomy ;  Ira  Remsen,  Chemistry  and  Toxicol- 
ogy. Dr.  Chas.  J.  Mansfield  became  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy,- 
and  D.  G.  N.  Tibbals,  Prosector  of  Surgery.  The  board  of  cen- 
sors comprised  Drs.  B.  F.  Bowers,  E.  E.  Marcy,  and  Samuel 
Lilienthal.  With  the  reorganization  of  the  board  of  trustees, 
William  Cullen  Bryant  became  president.  He  had  served  on  the 
former  board  of  council  since  1861,  and  "had  been  above  all 
others  the  mainstay  and  support  of  the  institution  in  time  of 
adversity  and  depression. ' '  Other  officers  were :  Salem  H.  Wales, 
vice-president;  Edmund  Dwight,  secretary;  H.  N.  Twombly, 
treasurer. 

The  first  session  under  the  new  regime  was  generally  productive 
of  good  results,  excepting  that  in  the  collegiate  work  certain  flaws 
in  the  methods  resorted  to  by  the  faculty  being  bared  a  short 
while  after  the  close  of  the  commencement  exercises,  at  which  42 
were  graduated.    The  information  determined  the  trustees  (who 


HOMOEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  539 


were  mainly  desirous  that  the  college  should  be  conducted  upon 
the  highest  attainable  standard)  to  make  a  radical  change  in  the 
construction  of  the  faculty.  On  May  18,  1870,  a  member  of  the 
New  York  County  Homoeopathic  Medical  Society  stated  ''that 
there  had  been  a  violation  of  the  charter,  in  that  the  faculty  had 
recommended  for  the  degree  certain  students  who  failed  to  attain 
the  required  standing  of  proficiency  under  the  charter  and  law." 
The  president  of  the  society  offered  a  resolution  proposing  that 
the  society  should  "henceforth  refuse  to  accept  the  diploma  of 
the  New  York  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  as  a  sufficient  cre- 
dential for  membership."  This  w£is  referred  to  a  committee,  Drs. 
Hallock,  Paine,  and  Joslin,  "to  invite  the  dean,  faculty,  and 
trustees  of  the  college  to  explain  the  apparent  irregularity."  The 
subsequent  report  of  the  committee  prompted  the  Society  to  adopt 
resolutions  condemning  the  action  of  the  college,  as  "calculated 
to  destroy  confidence  in  its  diplomas,  is  an  injury  to  the  cause  of 
sound  medical  education,  and  merits  the  disapprobation  of  the 
profession."  The  trustees  promptly  vacated  all  the  chairs,  al- 
though all  the  professors  were  not  implicated  in  the  irregularity; 
the  trustees,  however,  felt  that  confidence  in  the  standard  of  the 
institution  could  best  be  restored  by  "sweeping  Eiside  the  entire 
faculty  body"  when  "purging  the  college  of  its  impure  ele- 
ments. ' ' 

A  new  faculty  was  appointed,  and  was  subsequently  found  to 
contain  ' '  some  of  the  strongest  teachers  of  the  homoeopathic  school 
in  America."  Several  former  members  of  the  faculty  were  reap- 
pointed, although  none  that  had  been  of  the  faculty  of  the  pre- 
ceding session;  fourteen  regular  faculty  chairs  were  established, 
the  chairs  being  allotted  as  follows:  William  Tod  Helmuth,  Sur- 
gery; John  C.  Minor,  Clinical  Surgery  and  Surgical  Anatomy; 
C.  T.  Liebold,  Ophthalmic  Surgery;  A.  R.  Morgan,  John  W. 
Dowling,  and  F.  S.  Bradford,  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine; 
Samuel  Lilienthal,  Clinical  Medicine;  H.  D.  Paine,  Institutes  and 
History  of  Medicine;  Carroll  Dunham  and  T.  F.  Allen,  Materia 
Medica  and  Therapeutics;  H.  R.  Stiles,  Physiology;  Samuel  A. 
Jones,  Histology;  S.  P.  Burdick,  Obstetrics;  E.  M.  Kellogg,  Dis- 
eases of  Women  and  Children;  F.  A.  Rockwith,  Chemistry  and 
Toxicology;  William  0.  McDonald,  Anatomy;  D.  B.  Penfield, 
Medical  Jurisprudence;  T.  D.  Bradford,  Demonstrator  of  Anat- 
omy ;  H.  M.  Gernegan,  Prosector  of  Surgery ;  R.  W.  Martin  Assist- 


540 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


ant  Professor  of  Chemistry.  The  dispositions  of  the  trustees  com- 
pletely restored  the  college  into  professional  confidence,  and  intro- 
duced a  higher  standard  of  instruction. 

The  trustees,  in  the  twelfth  session,  adopted  a  three-year  graded 
course,  which,  while  earnestly  recommended  to  students,  was  not 
made  compulsory.  This  was  well  received  by  the  students,  and 
by  the  Homoeopathic  societies  it  was  interpreted  as  marking  a 
decision  of  the  college  trustees  and  faculty  to  henceforth  graduate 
into  practice  only  highly  qualified  men. 

The  twelfth  session  developed  36  graduates.  Minor  faculty 
changes  included  the  appointment  of  Henry  C.  Houghton  to  the 
chair  of  Physiology,  vice  Stiles;  C.  A.  Bacon  to  the  charge  of 
Histology,  vice  Jones;  Charles  Avery,  to  Chemistry  and  Toxicol- 
ogy, vice  Rockwith ;  and  R.  H.  Lyon,  Esq.,  to  the  Professorship  of 
Medical  Jurisprudence,  vice  Penfield. 

The  thirteenth  session  (1872-73)  opened  in  the  new  college 
building — a  five-story  structure  occupied  jointly  by  the  New  York 
Ophthalmic  Hospital  and  the  College,  at  the  corner  of  Third 
avenue  and  23rd  street,  and  ''one  of  the  most  elegant  and  com- 
modious edifices  of  its  kind  in  the  city. ' '  The  occasion  was  marked 
by  gratulatory  ceremonies.  The  trustees  announced  that  the  im- 
provement was  made  possible  by  a  princely  benefaction,  and  that 
* '  the  officers  of  both  the  hospital  and  the  college  desire  to  acknowl- 
edge the  munificent  donation  of  $100,000  from  the  widow  of  the 
late  Henry  Keep,  which  has  not  only  removed  all  encumbrance 
from  the  hospital  but  leaves  a  surplus  of  about  $60,000  for  its 
current  expenses,"  adding  that  ''such  tangible  assistance  so  mod- 
estly and  liberally  rendered  deserves  the  thanks  of  the  entire 
homoeopathic  profession." 

The  Ophthalmic  Hospital  building  was  the  home  of  the  College 
for  several  years,  and  proved  to  be  admirably  suited  to  its  imme- 
diate requirements.  Dr.  Kellogg,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Diseases 
of  Women  and  Children,  continued  his  lectures;  Prof.  McDonald 
was  transferred  from  the  Department  of  Anatomy  to  that  of  Dis- 
eases of  Women ;  and  Prof.  Carmichael  became  Professor  of  Anaf- 
omy.  Prof.  Bacon,  Professor  of  Histology,  was  absent  in  Europe, 
but  Dr.  Geo.  S.  Allan  substituted  for  him. 

The  only  faculty  change  in  the  session  of  1873-74  was  in  the 
Department  of  Physiology,  Prof.  Houghton  being  succeeded  by 
Dr.  Adrien  J.  Ebell,  M.  D.   Thirty-two  students  graduated  in  that 


HOMCEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  541 


year,  the  session  having  been  distinguished  by  a  record  enrolbnent, 
106  students  having  attended  the  lectures. 

The  fifteenth  session  (1874-75)  established  another  record,  hav- 
ing 133  matriculates,  an  increase  of  nearly  150  per  cent,  in  five 
years.  Faculty  prizes  were  for  the  first  time  instituted,  the  first 
a  medal  given  by  T.  F.  Allen,  and  known  as  the  Allen  prize,  for 
the  best  original  investigation  on  the  properties  of  any  drug;  the 
other,  the  Lilienthal  prize,  to  recognize  the  best  written  report  of 
Dr.  Lilienthal's  clinics. 

The  Announcement  for  the  sixteenth  session  (1875-76)  referred 
**with  pardonable  pride,"  to  the  great  advance  in  enrollments, 
and  stated  ' '  the  graded  course  system  first  introduced  into  medical 
colleges  by  this  institution  seems  to  meet  with  favor  by  both  pre- 
ceptors and  students."  In  1873,  nine  persons  took  advantage  of 
the  reduced  rates,  pledging  themselves  to  attend  three  courses  of 
lectures ;  in  1873-74,  ten ;  and  during  the  session  of  1874-75,  twen- 
ty-one students  registered  in  the  graded  course.  Dr.  J.  T.  O'Con- 
nor was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  Chemistry  and  Toxicology,  in 
place  of  Prof.  Avery,  and  special  lecturers  supplemented  the  regu- 
lar curriculum.  Special  lectures  were  delivered  by  F.  E.  Doughty, 
P.  Arcularius,  J.  H.  Thompson,  St.  Clair  Smith,  W.  N.  Guernsey, 
Adolf  Yarona,  and  Martin  Deschere.  Several  additional  prizes 
were  offered,  including  the  Helmuth  and  the  Burdick  prizes. 

About  that  time,  Dr.  Lilienthal  appealed  strongly  for  greater 
public  recognition  of  homoeopathic  efforts,  his  address  in  part  be- 
ing a  challenge  to  allopathic  physicians,  and  contained  the  follow- 
ing: "Gentlemen  of  the  allopathic  school,  the  day  is  past  when 
you  can  call  every  homceopath  a  quack,  and  a  pretender;  you  no 
longer  see  the  meagre  minority  even  then  you  vainly  tried  to 
crush.  Look  at  our  Ophthalmic  Hospital,  and  note  how  its  record 
in  both  surgical  and  therapeutic  results  compare  with  your  own. 
...  In  the  name  of  science,  we  demand  you  to  meet  us  in  open 
trial.  In  the  name  of  our  suffering  humanity,  we  demand  an 
opportunity  to  do  our  duty.  Give  us  hospitals,  and  then  by  our 
works  you  shall  know  us." 

This  address  appears  to  have  been  directly  responsible  for  the 
acquisition  shortly  afterwards  of  the  Charity  Hospital  on  Ward's 
Island,  which  was  placed  under  homoeopathic  supervision.  The 
announcement  for  the  seventeenth  session  referred  to  it  thus: 
"The  city  authorities  have  turned  over  to  the  homoeopaths  one 


542 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


of  the  most  magnificent  hospital  buildings  in  the  country,  capable 
of  accommodating  several  hundred  patients."  The  hospital  facil- 
ity exercised  a  direct  and  immediate  effect  upon  the  college  cur- 
riculum, clinical  instruction  becoming  a  more  important  part  of 
the  plan  of  instruction. 

During  the  succeeding  few  sessions  there  was  almost  no  change 
in  faculty,  but  the  college  continued  to  progress  surely,  and  appre- 
ciably. Dr.  St.  Clair  Smith  became  Professor  of  Physiology  in 
the  nineteenth  session,  and  in  the  twenty-first  session  the  number 
of  professors  was  increased  to  fifteen,  the  new  chairs  being  physiol- 
ogy, to  which  G.  W.  Blodgett  was  appointed,  and  chemistry,  Mal- 
colm Leal.  The  three-year  graded  course  was  made  compulsory, 
the  announcement  stating  ''hereafter  there  will  be  three  classes 
of  undergraduate  students  in  the  college,  to  be  called  the  junior, 
the  middle,  and  the  senior  class.  The  course  of  instruction  for 
each  class  shall  occupy  a  year,  and  the  entire  course  three  years. ' ' 
For  the  twenty-second  session  (1881-82)  Martin  Deschere,  M.  D., 
and  Bulk.  G.  Carlton,  M.  D.,  were  added  to  the  faculty.  In 
the  announcement  of  that  year,  the  trustees  referred  with  pride 
to  the  fact  that  theirs  was  the  first  American  college  to  establish 
the  three-year  compulsory  course. 

In  the  session  of  1882-83,  Prof.  T.  F.  Allen  became  dean,  suc- 
ceeding Prof.  Dowling,  who,  however,  still  retained  charge  of  the 
department  of  Physical  Diagnosis,  and  was  only  prevented  from 
still  continuing  in  the  chief  administrative  office  by  failing  health. 
He  had  held  the  deanship  for  twelve  years,  and  the  high  regard  in 
which  he  was  held  was  made  manifest  by  his  election  to  the  presi- 
dency. There  were  many  faculty  changes;  Prof.  O'Connor  re- 
signed, and  the  chair  of  Materia  Medica  was  given  to  Dr.  Smith; 
W.  "W.  Blackman  became  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy,  vice  Carlton ; 
Prof.  Houghton  took  Clinical  Otology;  Dr.  Arcularius,  Dermatol- 
ogy ;  Prof.  Walter  Y.  Cowl,  General  Pathology  and  Morbid  Anat- 
omy; John  Butler,  Electro-Therapeutics  and  Electro-Surgery; 
E.  V.  Moffat,  Histology ;  and  C.  S.  Elsbach  became  Assistant  Pro- 
fessor of  Physiology. 

The  year  1883  is  marked  as  beginning  a  new  era,  in  that  the  col- 
lege for  the  first  time  in  twenty  years  discovered  that  its  treas- 
ury contained  a  surplus  after  payment  of  the  year's  disbursements. 
The  dean's  report  stated  that  not  only  was  the  college  in  a  pros- 
perous condition  academically,  but  that  there  was  a  surplus  of 


HOMCEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  543 


more  than  $1,000,  which  he  suggested  might  be  preserved  as  the 
beginning  of  a  building  fund  for  the  erection  of  a  college  of  its 
own.  Another  important  development  was  the  organization  on 
March  15th  of  the  Alumni  Association  of  the  New  York  Homoeo- 
pathic Medical  College,  "for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  inter- 
ests and  extending  the  influence  of  the  college."  The  association 
had  at  the  outset  an  enthusiastic  membership  of  295  alumni.  On 
Dr.  W.  M.  Pratt,  class  of  1861  (the  opening  year),  was  conferred 
the  honor  of  election  as  first  president. 

In  1883-84  the  Announcement  for  the  first  time  printed  the 
names  of  the  faculty  officers;  they  were:  T.  F.  Allen,  dean; 
Francis  E.  Doughty,  president;  E.  V.  Moffat,  secretary.  The  fac- 
ulty professors  were:  T.  F.  Allen,  St.  C.  Smith,  F.  S.  Bradford, 
J.  W.  Dowling,  S.  Lilienthal,  Martin  Deschere,  W.  T.  Helmuth, 

F.  E.  Doughty,  S.  P.  Burdick,  E.  M.  Kellogg,  W.  0.  McDonald, 

G.  W.  Blodgett,  M.  Leal,  E.  V.  Moffat,  R.  H.  Lyon,  C.  Th.  Liebold, 

H.  C.  Houghton,  P.  E.  Arcularius,  W.  Y.  Cowl,  John  Butler.  The 
demonstrators  were :  S.  F.  Wilcox,  J.  L.  Beyea,  W.  W.  Blackman, 
Charles  McDowell. 

In  that  year  the  trustees  and  faculty  endeavored  to  establish 
a  higher  standard  of  requirement  for  graduation  than  that  de- 
manded at  any  other  homoeopathic  college  in  America ;  as  a  direct 
consequence,  the  other  colleges  sought  to  deprecate  the  action, 
which  gave  rise  to  much  adverse  criticism.  In  reference  to  the 
subject,  the  trustees  of  the  New  York  Homoeopathic  Medical  Col- 
lege openly  stated :  ' '  We  earnestly  deprecate  the  bitterness  of 
feeling  certain  colleges  entertain  toward  us,  and  distinctly  state 
that  our  action  does  not  evince  a  distrust  of  their  diplomas,  but  is 
simply  an  effort  to  maintain  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  profes- 
sion in  New  York  state,  to  guard  the  trust  reposed  in  us  by  the 
public  and  to  protect  the  standing  and  good  name  of  the  college." 
Notwithstanding  the  more  stringent  requirements,  the  enrollment 
for  the  following  year  showed  an  increase,  and  it  was  necessary 
to  make  additions  to  the  adjunct  departments  of  several  of  the 
chairs ;  also  a  new  chair,  that  of  Laryngology  and  Rhinology,  was 
established,  with  Clarence  E.  Beebe  in  charge,  and  Malcolm  Leal 
as  adjunct  professor. 

In  1885,  Prof.  Lilienthal  retired,  and  Dr.  Selden  H.  Talcott  suc- 
ceeded him  to  the  chair  of  Nervous  and  Mental  Diseases.  Other 
changes  were :   Dr.  Moffat,  from  Histology  and  Microscopy  to  the 


544 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


chair  of  Materia  Medica,  vice  Professor  Smith,  who  assumed  the 
duties  of  theory  and  practice  of  medicine  department ;  L.  L.  Dan- 
forth,  from  Assistant  to  Professor  of  Obstetrics,  Dr.  Burdick  hav- 
ing resigned ;  Dr.  Geo.  M.  Dillow,  from  lecturer  on  Diseases  of  the 
Kidneys  to  Professor  of  same,  vice  Dr.  Blodgett ;  and  A.  R.  Wright 
was  appointed  Professor  of  the  newly  established  department  of 
hygiene. 

No  important  faculty  changes  are  on  record  for  the  twenty- 
seventh  session,  when,  reported  the  dean,  the  college  was  "in  a 
prosperous  condition,  and  still  adhering  to  a  high  standard  of 
professional  preparation;"  he  also  said  that  of  the  145  students 
in  attendance,  a  larger  proportion  than  ever  were  college  grad- 
uates. The  dean  deplored  the  lack  of  hospital  facilities,  ''which 
tended  to  retard  the  efficiency  and  prosperity  of  the  college"; 
and  emphasized  the  importance  of  a  well  equipped  college  build- 
ing, presenting  a  form  of  subscription  and  an  appeal  to  the  alumni, 
by  which  means  he  hoped  ' '  the  friends  of  the  college  and  homoeopa- 
thy" would  put  into  the  hands  of  the  trustees  the  sum  of  $250,000 
required  for  that  purpose.  The  trustees  endorsed  the  dean's  ac- 
tion, and  authorized  the  issue  of  a  circular  of  similar  purport, 
but  it  was  not  until  some  years  later  that  substantial  result  came. 

In  1887,  the  dean  reported  ineffectual  attempts  to  obtain  clinical 
instruction  for  students  at  the  Hahnemann  Hospital,  proposed 
the  erection  of  a  college  and  hospital,  and  presented  the  draft  of  a 
bill  for  an  amended  charter ;  and  the  trustees  appointed  Dr.  Allen, 
dean,  and  Geo.  W.  Clarke,  secretary,  to  prosecute  the  endeavor  in 
legislative  circles.  On  June  3,  1887,  an  act  was  passed  incorporat- 
ing the  ' '  New  York  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  and  Hospital, ' ' 
which  corporation  was  empowered  to  succeed  the  former  corpora- 
tion, with  all  its  powers,  and  in  addition  ''to  provide,  conduct  and 
maintain  in  said  city  of  New  York,  by  means  of  voluntary  contri- 
butions and  otherwise,  a  hospital  for  the  poor  and  others,  in  which 
hospital  medical  and  clinical  instruction  may  be  given."  The 
corporation  was  also  authorized  to  hold  and  possess  real  and  per- 
sonal estate  of  the  value  of  $1,000,000. 

Before  the  twenty-eighth  session  opened,  the  alumni  "and  other 
friends  of  homoeopathy, ' '  had  subscribed,  or  promised  to  subscribe, 
nearly  $100,000.  A  committee  purchased  lands  on  the  Eastern 
Boulevard,  between  63rd  and  64th  streets,  at  a  cost  of  $112,500, 
and  it  seemed  that  the  full  desire  of  the  dean,  faculty,  and  trus^ 


HOMCEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  545 


tees  of  the  college  would  be  attained,  as  shortly  after  the  purchase 
of  the  land  had  been  made,  the  trustees  of  a  large  estate  signified 
their  desire  to  erect  on  part  of  the  land  a  memorial  hospital  in 
honor  of  the  deceased  testator,  but  the  proposal  never  went  beyond 
that  stage,  and  the  hospital  when  erected  "was  the  result  of  the 
liberality  of  another  benefactor  of  homoeopathy  in  New  York 
City;  one  whose  name,  from  1886  to  the  time  of  his  death  was 
closely  associated  with  the  best  history  and  interests  of  the  insti- 
tution, and  who  left  a  monument  which  indeed  has  lived  after 
him." 

In  the  Announcement  of  the  twenty-ninth  session  (1888-89)  the 
trustees  stated  that  "work  was  begun  on  the  college  building  and 
also  on  one  of  the  hospital  pavilions, ' '  and  hoped  the  former  would 
be  ready  for  occupancy  at  the  opening  of  the  succeeding  session; 
that  the  new  college  building  would  be  replete  in  all  modern  im- 
provements "for  the  comfort  of  students  and  the  advancement  of 
medical  and  scientific  study,"  mentioning  that  it  would  contain  a 
surgical  amphitheatre  capable  of  seating  300  students.  It  was  then 
announced  that  the  hospital  pavilion  was  being  erected  through 
the  munificence  of  the  Hon.  Roswell  P.  Flower. 

The  cornerstones  of  the  Flower  Hospital  and  the  college  build- 
ing were  laid  October  20,  1888,  and  on  January  9,  1890,  both 
edifices  were  formally  dedicated,  although  the  college  building 
had  been  in  the  use  of  the  college  since  the  opening  of  the  winter 
session  in  October,  1889.  The  college  building  cost  $110,000,  the 
undertaking  being  made  possible  of  satisfactory  completion  by 
contributions  of  $25,000  each  from  John  D.  Rockefeller  and  David 
Dows,  of  $50,000  subscribed  by  the  faculty  and  alumni,  and  of 
$21,000  subscribed  by  the  Women's  Guild.  In  the  minute  book 
of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  college  and  hospital  is  a  minute 
which  reads:  "New  college  and  hospital  formally  opened  Jan- 
uary 7,  1899,  being  just  two  and  a  half  years  from  the  day  of 
obtaining  the  new  charter  which  allows  the  college  to  embrace 
under  its  jurisdiction  a  free  hospital  for  treatment  of  the  poor, 
and  for  clinical  instruction  of  its  students.  Hon.  R.  P.  Flower 
built  the  hospital,  which  bears  his  name,  at  his  own  expense." 

There  were  practically  no  changes  in  faculty  during  the  sessions 
of  1889-90,  but  for  the  session  of  1891-92  there  were  several,  the 
year  also  bringing  into  operation  a  new  department,  that  of  Hy- 
giene and  Sanitary  Science,  to  which  Prof.  Malcolm  Leal  was 


546 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


appointed.  Other  appointments  were :  A.  R.  Morgan,  Theory  and 
Practice;  J.  M.  Schley,  to  Clinical  Medicine;  L.  H.  Friedburg, 
Chemistry  and  Toxicology ;  E.  H.  Porter,  Medical  Chemistry ;  and 
Frank  H.  Boynton,  Ophthalmology,  vice  Prof.  Norton.  The  An- 
nouncement of  1892  stated  the  intention  of  the  college  to  establish 
a  post-graduate  school  as  soon  as  the  preliminaries  could  be  ar- 
ranged. 

In  the  session  of  1893-94,  clinical  medicine  was  separated  from 
the  department  of  theory  and  practice  of  medicine,  and  created 
a  distinct  department,  to  which  Prof.  Schley  was  appointed.  Other 
changes  of  that  year  were :  W.  H.  King,  to  department  of  Materia 
Medica  and  Therapeutics,  as  lecturer  on  electro-therapeutics;  and 
Henry  M.  Dearborn,  to  the  chair  of  Dermatology,  Prof.  Arcularius 
having  resigned.  Dr.  McDonald,  Professor  of  Gynecology,  also 
resigned  in  that  year.  At  the  close  of  that  session,  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  faculty  resolved  that  the  best  interests  of  the  college 
demanded  a  reorganization  of  the  teaching  staff,  both  college  and 
hospital ;  and  the  trustees  requested  the  resignations  of  the  entire 
faculty ;  it  was  recommended  that  the  trustees  call  upon  Drs.  Hal- 
lock,  Wetmore,  Baldwin,  Kinne,  and  McMurray,  the  board  of 
censors,  to  nominate  a  new  faculty,  first  nominating  nine  profes- 
sors to  constitute  the  governing  faculty.  To  further  this  recom- 
mendation, thirty-six  members  of  the  faculty  tendered  their  resig- 
nations, which  were  accepted  by  the  trustees,  and  the  chairs  of 
those  who  did  not  resign  were  declared  vacant.  The  board  of 
censors  then  proceeded  to  select  the  new  faculty  which  ultimately 
entered  upon  the  next  session 's  work  constituted  as  follows : 

Department  of  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics : — T.  F.  Allen,  Materia 
Medica  and  Therapeutics,  and  director  of  the  laboratory  of  Experimental 
Pharmacology ;  G.  G.  Shelton,  Materia  Medica ;  E.  H.  Porter,  Physiological 
Materia  Medica;  W.  H.  King,  lecturer  on  Electro-Therapeutics. 

Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine: — St.  C.  Smith,  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Medicine;  J.  W.  Dowling,  adjunct.  Theory  and  Practice,  and  lecturer  on 
Principles  of  Physical  Diagnosis;  Martin  Deschere,  Pediatry;  Seldon  H. 
Talcott,  Mental  Diseases;  J.  T.  O'Connor,  Nervous  Diseases;  George  W. 
Dillow,  Diseases  of  the  Kidneys;  J.  T.  Simonson,  clinical  assistant  to 
Chair  of  Pediatry. 

Clinical  Medicine: — J.  M.  Schley. 

Surgery: — W.  T.  Helmuth,  Professor  of  Surgery;  Francis  E.  Doughty, 
Surgical  Gynecology;  Sidney  F.  Wilcox,  Principles  of  Surgery,  and  lec- 
turer on  Orthopedic  and  Rectal  Surgery;  W.  H.  Bishop,  Minor  Surgery, 
and  clinical  assistant  to  chair  of  Surgery;  W.  T.  Helmuth,  Jr.,  Minor 


HOMCEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  547 


Surgery,  and  clinical  assistant  in  Surgery ;  E.  G.  Tuttle,  lecturer  on  Genito- 
urinary Diseases,  and  demonstrator  of  Operative  Surgery;  J.  L.  Beyea, 
clinical  assistant  to  chair  of  Genito-urinary. 

Obstetrics: — L.  L.  Danforth,  Professor  of  Obstetrics;  J.  L.  Beyea, 
Demonstrator  of  Midwifery;  F.  W.  Hamlin,  assistant  to  chair  of  Ob- 
stetrics; J.  T.  Simonson,  assistant  demonstrator  of  Obstetrics, 

Gynecology : — C.  S.  Macy,  Medical  Gynecology ;  C.  Ver  Nooy,  clinical 
assistant  to  chair  of  Gynecology;  Francis  M.  Frazier,  clinical  assistant  to 
chair  of  Gynecology. 

Anatomy: — W.  W.  Blackman,  Professor  of  Anatomy;  H.  B.  Minton, 
lecturer;  Wm.  F.  Honan,  demonstrator. 

Physiology : — Charles  McDowell. 

Chemistry: — L.  H.  Friedburg,  Chemistry  and  Toxicology;  Paul  Allen, 
lecturer  on  Pharmaceutics,  and  adjunct  to  chair  of  Toxicology, 
"hygiene  and  Sanitary  Science: — Malcolm  Leal. 

Histology: — F.  M.  Wall,  lecturer;  W.  Ide  Pierce,  laboratory  director. 
Pathology: — George  F.  Laidlaw,  lecturer  on  General  Pathology,  and 
director  of  Microscopic  laboratory. 

Medical  Jurisprudence: — R.  H.  Lyon,  Esq. 
Dermatology : — Henry  M.  Dearborn. 

Ophthalmology: — Frank  H.  Boynton,  Professor;  George  W.  McDowell, 
clinical  assistant. 

Otology: — Henry  C.  Houghton. 

Laryngology  and  Rhinology: — Clarence  E.  Beebe. 

Bacteriology : — Emanuel  Baruch. 

In  1894  also,  the  faculty  and  trustees  united  in  the  erection  of 
another  medical  hospital,  on  the  college  grounds  and  adjoining 
the  Flower  Hospital.  The  contributions  of  the  faculty  to  the 
building  and  furnishing  fund  established  the  basis  for  the  build- 
ing, the  erection  of  which  was  commenced  under  the  supervision 
of  the  faculty.  The  cornerstone  was  laid  October  2,  1895,  by 
Judge  Cowing,  and  the  building  was  completed  in  the  spring  of 
1896.  The  hospital  has  since  proved  to  be  of  much  value  to  the 
community  and  to  the  college,  for  bedside  instruction  to  students. 

The  year  1894  also  marked  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  of  much 
importance,  trustees  and  faculty  adopting  a  four  years'  course  of 
study  as  a  prerequisite  to  the  diploma  and  degree,  which  action 
enhanced  the  standing  and  character  of  the  college  in  the  medical 
world.  The  lengthened  course  had  been  under  consideration  for 
two  years,  and  the  acquisition  of  the  new  medical  college  made 
the  plan  more  practicable  and  contributed  to  its  ultimate  adoption. 
The  new  requirement  came  into  force  in  the  session  of  1894-95, 
the  year  in  which  Professor  Helmuth,  ' '  one  of  the  strongest  forces 


548 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


in  college  life  during  his  time, ' '  was  appointed  to  take  the  deanship 
from  Professor  Allen,  who  desired  to  retire,  and  in  that  year  the 
King  lectureship  of  Electro-Therapeutics  was  advanced  to  a  full 
professorship.  In  1896  the  trustees  appointed  Henry  B.  Minton 
to  the  chair  of  Anatomy,  in  the  place  of  Dr.  Blackman,  who  had 
resigned,  and  Dr.  Charles  McDowell  became  Professor  of  Physiol- 
ogy and  Hygiene.  In  1897  Paul  Allen  was  made  lecturer  on  phar- 
maceutics and  Adjunct  Professor  of  Materia  Medica;  the  depart- 
ment of  Clinical  Medicine  was  discontinued;  Dr.  G.  W.  Roberts 
became  demonstrator  of  Operative  Surgery  (upon  the  cadaver), 
I.  P.  Sherman  became  clinical  assistant  of  Genito-Urinary  Sur- 
gery; and  Dr.  E.  M.  Kellogg,  an  "honored  character"  in  the  col- 
lege history,  was  elected  Emeritus  Professor  of  Diseases  of  Women, 

having  for  several  years  served  in  that  capacity,  although  his 
name  did  not  appear  on  the  faculty  roll."  H.  S.  Nielson  and 
0.  N.  Meyer  were  appointed  Demonstrators  of  Anatomy,  J.  S. 
Adriance  became  Professor  of  Chemistry,  and  Edwin  S.  Munson  of 
Histology.  Professor  Pierce  was  transferred  to  the  department 
of  Pathology,  Professor  Pearsail  to  the  department  of  Physiology 
and  Hygiene,  and  Dr.  Malcolm  Leal  became  Professor  of  Laryngol- 
ogy and  Rhinology.  Physiology  and  Hygiene  were  divided  in  the 
session  of  1898-99,  Prof.  Pearsail  being  assigned  to  the  former, 
and  McDowell  to  the  latter.  Pathology  and  Bacteriology  were 
united  under  Prof.  Baruch,  with  Van  der  Berg  as  lecturer,  and 
H.  C.  Allen  as  demonstrator  of  Pathology.  C.  E.  Teets  succeeded 
Dr.  Leal  as  Professor  of  Rhinology  and  Laryngology. 

In  the  session  of  1900-01,  the  department  of  Pathology  and 
Bacteriology  was  remodelled;  Fred.  J.  Nott  became  Professor  of 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine,  with  E.  D.  Rudderow  and  Geo. 
B.  Dowling,  as  assistants.  George  W.  Schurman  was  made  joint 
Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence  with  Prof.  Lyon. 

With  the  new  century,  and  a  general  review  of  the  achieve- 
ments, standing,  and  purposes  of  the  institution,  the  trustees  were 
inspired  to  effect  even  greater  improvements.  The  physical  affairs 
of  the  college  were  healthy,  and  an  endowment  fund  aggregating 
a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  emphasized  the  public  support  and 
appreciation.  Dr.  Helmuth  recommended  certain  changes,  but  un- 
fortunately did  not  live  to  see  them  put  into  effect;  he  died  in 
May,  1902,  one  historian  marking  the  event  thus:  ''In  May  the 
destroyer  entered  the  faculty  household  and  took  away  its  bright- 


HOMOEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  549 


est  light,  Helmuth,  one  of  the  foremost  teachers  and  operators  of 
any  school  in  this  country."  The  loss  to  the  college  administra- 
tion was  great,  but  the  trustees  proceeded  with  their  faculty  and 
departmental  reorganization.  In  the  session  of  1902-03  the  dean- 
ship  was  filled  by  Dr.  William  Harvey  King.  Improvements  were 
inaugurated  in  every  department,  more  particularly  in  that  of 
Materia  Medica.  The  most  notable  event  of  that  session,  however 
from  the  educational  standpoint,  was  the  introduction  of  the  prac- 
titioners' course,  a  step  long  held  under  advisement,  but  only  for 
the  first  time  in  that  year  adopted. 

In  the  following  year.  Dr.  Allen,  ex-dean,  died ;  he  had  recently 
retired  from  active  participation  in  professorial  labors,  but  still 
remained  a  conspicuous  figure  of  the  college.  His  son  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  chair  he  had  so  ably  directed,  and  W.  T.  Helmuth, 
Jr.,  likewise  succeeded  his  father  to  the  professorship  he  had  un- 
dertaken. 

The  enrollment  for  1902-03  showed  105  students,  an  increase 
of  fifty  per  cent,  over  the  preceding  year.  The  system  of  bedside 
instruction  was  thoroughly  reorganized  and  enlarged  in  scope,  as 
to  practically  constitute  a  new  departure.  There  was  an  abund- 
ance of  clinical  material,  and  each  student  of  the  senior  class  was, 
during  the  first  fifty  days  of  the  college  course,  enabled  to  per- 
sonally examine  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  cases,  while  during 
the  whole  of  the  session,  each  student  was  able  to  personally  exam- 
ine over  twelve  hundred  cases,  not  including  those  that  came  before 
students  in  large  clinics  held  in  the  amphitheatre.  In  1903-04, 
total  of  students  in  college,  118.  A  physiological  laboratory  was 
established,  securing  *'a  duplicate  of  the  entire  outfit  of  the 
physiological  laboratory  of  Harvard  University,  which  at  that 
time  was  acknowledged  to  be  the  best  in  the  country/' 

Hitherto,  personal  bedside  instruction  was  only  given  to  seniors, 
but  in  1903-04  the  junior  class  was  included,  and  three  times 
weekly,  in  sections  of  four,  they  were  thoroughly  trained  in  the 
wards  of  Flower  Hospital.  St.  Clair  Smith  became  Emeritus  Pro- 
fessor of  Theory  and  Practice ;  G.  F.  Laidlaw  and  W.  H.  Vanden 
Burg,  Professors  of  Theory  and  Practice.  Dr.  F.  J.  Nott  died 
December  20,  1904,  '*a  man  of  exceptional  worth."  W.  H.  But- 
ten  was  appointed  Professor  of  Mental  Diseases;  E.  M.  Kellogg 
became  Professor  Emeritus  of  Gynecology;  G.  W.  Roberts,  Pro- 


550 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


fessor  of  Gynecology;  F.  W.  Hamlin,  joint  Professor  of  Obstet- 
rics; Edwin  S.  Munson,  Professor  of  Histology. 

In  1904-05  Ed.  G.  Tuttle  was  appointed  secretary  and  treas- 
urer, vice  G.  W.  Roberts.  Students  numbered  107.  All  medical 
colleges  of  the  State  showed  during  the  previous  few  years  a 
marked  decrease  in  enrollments,  owing  to  increasingly  exacting 
pre-medical  requirements  demanded  by  Regents.  The  decrease 
in  medical  students  in  the  State  was  fifty  per  cent.,  in  six  years; 
but  the  Homoeopathic  College  showed  gains  in  years  1903-04  and 
1904-05. 

In  1905-06  F.  K.  HoUister  became  Professor  of  Theory  and 
Practice  of  Medicine.  The  enrollments  were  110.  The  college  in 
that  session  lacked  clinical  facilities.  Owing  to  great  advance  in 
aseptic  practice,  the  amphitheatre  in  college  intended  for  both 
medical  and  surgical  cases  had  to  be  given  over  entirely  to  sur- 
gical cases,  the  medical  clinics  having  to  be  made  up  from  the 
dispensary,  and  by  taking  students,  in  sections,  into  the  wards 
of  the  hospital. 

In  1906-07  Walter  Gray  Crump,  lecturer  on  Obstetrics,  became 
Adjunct  Professor  of  Obstetrics.  The  Dean's  report  recom- 
mended a  voluntary  five-year  course,  the  fifth  year  to  take  the 
place  of  interne  year  at  hospital.  It  was  explained  that  medical 
science  was  advancing  much  more  rapidly  than  medical  college 
facilities;  that  since  1895  it  had  more  than  completely  outstripped 
the  four  years'  course,  the  advances  in  medical  science  forcing 
a  fifth  year  of  instruction,  and  a  very  thorough  pre-medical  edu- 
cation. 

The  Announcement  for  1907-08  stated  that  "ours  is  the  only 
medical  college  in  the  City  of  New  York  which  owns  its  own  hos- 
pital— except  the  Woman's  College,  also  homoeopathic;  our  stu- 
dents have  clinical  instruction  at  as  many  hospital  beds — about 
fifteen  hundred — as  have  the  students  from  all  the  other  colleges 
in  the  city  combined,  and  they  have  access  to  out-patient  clinics 
aggregating  over  fifty  thousand  cases  a  year. ' '  Students  enrolled, 
110 ;  graduating  class,  1906,  31 ;  1907,  25. 

In  1908-09,  Royal  S.  Copeland  became  dean;  John  W.  Dow- 
ling,  secretary.  Dr.  Copeland  appointed  to  chair  of  Ophthalmol- 
ogy; Frank  M.  Dearborn,  appointed  Professor  of  Dermatology; 
Wm.  H.  Duffenbach,  made  Professor  of  Electro  and  Hydro-Thera- 
peutics, vice  Wm.  Harvey  King;  William  H.  Freeman,  Professor 


HOMOEOPATHIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  551 


of  Materia  Medica;  Albert  E.  Hinsdale,  Professor  of  Chemistry, 
and  Lecturer  on  Physiological  Materia  Medica;  Ralph  I.  Lloyd 
became  Professor  of  Anatomy;  Paul  Allen,  E.  B.  Nash,  and  Wil- 
lard  Ide  Pierce,  Professors  of  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics. 

Mr.  Anson  R.  Flower,  who  had  been  president  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  college-hospital  corporation  since  the  death  of  his 
brother,  Governor  Flower,  founder  of  the  hospital,  was  compelled 
by  ill  health  to  resign;  he  died  on  January  3,  1909,  Mr.  Melbert 
B.  Cary  succeeding  him  to  the  presidency. 

The  session  of  1909-10  marked  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
college.  Walter  S.  Mills  became  Professor  of  Medical  Jurispru- 
dence, that  being  the  only  change  in  faculty.  There  were  158 
students  in  that  year  and  nine  graduates.  In  1910-11,  J.  Wex- 
ford Allen,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica,  resigned,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Arkell  R.  McMichael;  Bulkeley  G.  Carlton,  Professor  of 
Genito-Urinary  Surgery,  was  appointed  Professor  of  Medical 
Ethics,  and  Clinical  Urology.  Graduates,  1910,  13;  enrollments, 
210  students.  In  1911-12,  Joseph  H.  Ball  was  called  to  the  direc- 
torship of  Bacteriological  Laboratory,  and  also  the  office  of  Reg- 
istrar; W.  G.  Crump  became  Professor  of  Gynecology;  Farel  E. 
Jorrard,  Professor  of  Chemistry.    The  graduates  were  26. 

In  1913-14  announcement  was  made  that  the  trustees  were  in 
the  midst  of  a  building  campaign;  that  plans  for  an  absolute  re- 
construction of  the  city  block  owned  by  the  corporation  were  under 
way,  the  first  of  the  new  group  of  buildings  was  then  enclosed; 
expected  it  to  be  ready  for  use  in  October. 

Probably  the  most  significant  advance  of  the  past  several  years 
was  the  adoption  of  a  new  rule  regarding  Faculty  membership. 
Beginning  with  the  approaching  college  year,  all  professors  and 
assistant  professors  were  to  confine  their  active  professional  serv- 
ices to  that  one  institution.  The  change  was  expected  to  prove 
particularly  advantageous  to  the  student  body — better  lectures, 
improved  clinical  instruction,  closer  attention,  etc.  Graduates, 
1913,  45. 

The  first  of  the  new  group  of  buildings  was  occupied  in  Jan- 
uary, 1915.   Enrollments,  355  students;  graduates,  1914,  46. 


CHAPTER  VII 


NEW  YORK  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  AND  HOSPITAL  FOR 

WOMEN 

THE  New  York  Medical  College  for  Women  owes  its  estab- 
lishment mainly  to  the  indefatigable  and  earnest  efforts  of 
a  woman — to  Dr.  Clemence  Sophia  Lozier,  who  belonged 
to  a  family  of  physicians,  was  imbued  with  the  true  spirit  of  the 
profession,  and  had  determined  that  sex  should  not  bar  her  from 
professional  participation  in  the  noble  work.  She  was  denied  a 
course  of  study  by  both  the  dominant  schools  of  medicine,  and 
in  consequence  had  to  obtain  her  elementary  medical  knowledge 
elsewhere.  In  1849  she  attended  an  Eclectic  College,  and  some 
years  later  took  the  course  at  the  New  York  Central  Medical  Col- 
lege in  Sjo^acuse,  gaining  the  highest  honor  of  her  class  by  her 
graduating  thesis. 

Coming  to  New  York  City,  she  soon  built  up  an  extensive  prac- 
tice. She  noted  the  ignorance  of  the  poor  people  regarding  even 
elementary  principles  of  health,  and  seeking  a  remedy  she  inaugu- 
rated weekly  lectures  at  her  own  home,  open  to  all  who  would 
come.  Her  lectures  mainly  bore  on  the  functions  of  maternity 
and  the  care  of  children,  and  to  the  interest  she  aroused  may  be 
traced  the  development  of  the  conviction  that  women  medical 
practitioners  had  become  necessary. 

Dr.  Lozier,  undoubtedly,  was  the  guiding  spirit  of  the  new 
movement.  She  received  encouraging  support,  but  difficulties 
were  many;  chief  among  them  was  the  opposition  of  the  medical 
colleges.  Dr.  Lozier  was  one  of  three  women  to  whom  the  medical 
degree  was  granted  by  the  Syracuse  Eclectic  College,  and  its  action 
was  made  the  subject  of  many  condemnatory  opinions  by  the  other 
schools.  However,  the  petition  for  charter  was  duly  presented 
at  Albany.  As  expected,  it  encountered  much  professional  oppo- 
sition, but  unsuccessfully,  and  a  charter  was  granted  which  was 
liberal,  ''securing  to  woman  the  right  to  equal  collegiate  advem- 
tages  with  men."   The  incorporators  included  Maria  Louise  Ewen, 

552 


MEDICAL  COLLEGE  FOR  WOMEN 


553 


Nancy  Fish,  Maria  L.  Oscanyan,  Elizabeth  S.  S.  Eaton,  Maria  A. 
Elliott,  Augusta  T.  C.  Niven,  A.  Ensign  Newman,  Maria  S.  Con- 
nolly, Mary  Ward,  Sarah  Ann  Martin,  Elvina  A.  Lane,  Sarah  A. 
King,  Laura  M.  Ward,  Anna  C.  Van  Ness,  Georgianna  Gray, 
Frances  S.  Rugg,  Mary  A.  Camerden,  Harriet  P.  R.  White,  Cath- 
erine Buckley,  Eliza  A.  King,  Sarah  Andrews,  of  New  York  City ; 
Matilda  C.  Perry,  of  Albany;  Elizabeth  Ransom,  of  Fort  Hamil- 
ton, New  York;  Maria  A.  M.  Fowle,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York; 
Lydia  E.  Rushby,  Mary  F.  James,  Charlotte  Fowler  Wells,  Mar- 
garet Austin,  of  New  York  City;  and  S.  S.  Nevison,  who  were 
empowered  to  constitute  the  New  York  Medical  College  for 
Women,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  provide  instruction  in 
medical  science.  The  corporation  might  hold  real  and  personal 
estate  to  the  amount  of  $100,000 ;  might  confer  the  degree  of  med- 
icine on  those  of  its  students  who  were  over  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  had  registered  as  a  student  for  three  years  with  some  reputable 
physician  and  surgeon  after  having  reached  the  age  of  sixteen 
years,  and  had  attended  two  complete  courses  of  lectures  deliv- 
ered in  some  incorporated  medical  college,  the  last  of  which  courses 
must  have  been  taken  at  the  New  York  Medical  College  for  Women. 

The  act  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  April  14,  1863,  and  is  of 
much  historical  importance,  establishing  as  it  did  the  first  woman 's 
medical  college  ''not  only  in  America,  but  in  the  world."  The 
''History  of  Homoeopathy"  (Lewis  Pub.  Co.,  1905)  says,  "thus 
was  secured  the  triumph  of  the  great  principle  of  right  for  which 
the  advocates  of  the  institution  had  contended  in  the  face  of  bit- 
ter opposition  on  the  part  of  those  who  would  have  denied  woman 
the  right  to  practise  and  teach  medicine.  It  was  not  a  dearly 
bought  victory,  nor  was  it  secured  at  the  sacrifice  of  personal  or 
professional  honor.  They  who  fought  the  battle  in  the  Legislature 
were  of  those  mentioned  in  the  act  of  incorporation,  and  they  were 
led  by  a  woman  not  strong  physically,  but  of  wonderful  strength 
of  character  and  firmness  of  purpose." 

Immediately  after  receiving  the  charter,  the  incorporators,  aS 
trustees,  opened  the  college.  On  October  19,  1863,  the  officers 
were:  Mrs,  Maria  L.  Ewen,  president;  Mrs.  Mary  Ward,  Mrs. 
Laura  M.  Ward,  Mrs.  C.  F.  Wells,  vice-presidents;  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Cady  Stanton,  recording  secretary ;  Mrs.  Maria  L.  Oscanyan, 
corresponding  secretary;  Miss  Lydia  E.  Rushby,  treasurer;  Miss 
Maria  A.  M.  Fowle,  librarian;  Mrs.  C.  F.  Wells,  Mrs.  A.  Ensign 


554 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Newman,  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  King,  Mrs.  Elvina  A.  Lane,  Mrs.  Laura 
M.  Ward,  executive  committee.  Dr.  Lozier  was  made  president 
and  dean,  and  held  both  positions  until  her  death  in  1888.  The 
faculty  for  the  first  session  was  as  follows :  Dr.  Clemence  S.  Lozier, 
Professor  of  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children ;  Dr.  Lydia  F.  Fow- 
ler, Professor  of  Pathology,  and  Principles  and  Practice  of  Med- 
icine; Dr.  Sarah  M.  Ellis,  Professor  of  Anatomy;  Dr.  Huldah 
Allen,  Professor  of  Physiology  and  Hygiene;  Dr.  Isaac  M.  Ward, 
Professor  of  Obstetrics,  and  Medical  Jurisprudence;  Dr.  J.  V.  C. 
Smith,  Professor  of  Clinical  and  Operative  Surgery;  Dr.  Edward 
P.  Fowler,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Diseases  of  the  Chest; 
Dr.  A.  W.  Lozier,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Toxicology. 

The  first  location  of  the  college  was  at  74  East  Twelfth  street, 
the  building  having  been  leased  for  one  year.  It  was  the  inten- 
tion to  establish  a  hospital  in  connection  with  the  college,  but  at 
the  outset  that  was  not  possible. 

The  Announcement  for  the  first  session  thus  stated  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  the  incorporators: 

The  incorporators  have  been  stimulated  in  their  efforts  to  carry  out  the 
beneficent  intentions  of  the  projectors  of  this  institution,  by  the  conviction 
that  the  sufferings  of  women,  from  the  derangements  peculiar  to  their 
organizations,  are  liable  to  be  misunderstood  on  account  of  the  relation 
usually  existing  between  the  patient  and  the  physician,  which  does  not 
permit  that  thorough  investigation  of  symptoms  essential  to  their  proper 
treatment;  and  that  this  evil,  connected  with  the  employment  of  physicians 
of  the  opposite  sex,  in  the  treatment  of  the  diseases  of  women,  will  con- 
tinue to  exist  as  long  as  purity  and  delicacy  continue  to  be  recognized  as 
the  crowning  excellencies  of  the  female  character. 

Recognizing  the  fact  that  there  exists  in  society  an  imperative  demand 
for  female  physicians,  and  a  growing  conviction  that  women  should  be 
educated  to  meet  it,  the  legislature  has  granted  a  special  charter  for  a 
coUege,  in  which  women  desirous  of  entering  the  profession,  but  excluded 
from  the  existing  schools  of  medicine,  may  receive  instruction  in  all  the 
branches  of  medical  science. 

In  addition,  the  Announcement  stated  that  "the  college  occu- 
pies ...  a  position  equal  to  that  of  any  medical  college  .  .  . 
will  be  wholly  unsectarian,  and  no  effort  will  be  spared  to  earn  for 
it  a  position  second  to  none  in  the  world." 

It  had  been  the  intention  to  keep  an  ''open"  college,  but  there 
soon  developed  a  tendency  to  adopt  homoeopathic  teachings.  No 
mention  was  made  of  it  in  the  second  Announcement,  but  in  that 


MEDICAL  COLLEGE  FOR  WOMEN 


555 


for  1865-66  was  the  information  that  ''although  the  wide-spread 
and  imperative  demand  for  female  physicians  has  been  responded 
to  by  the  organization  of  two  colleges  exclusively  for  women,  this 
is  the  first  and  only  one  in  the  world  where  the  law  of  'similia* 
is  recognized  as  the  only  true  guide  to  the  administration  of 
drugs";  it  further  stated,  ''with  homoeopathic  teachings,  in  addi- 
tion to  all  the  branches  of  medical  science  taught  in  other  medical 
schools,  this  institution  presents  itself  to  the  public  with  appeals 
for  patronage  such  as  no  other  medical  school  for  the  education 
of  women  can  claim."  The  change  was  not  a  radical  one,  insofar 
as  it  did  not  revolutionize  the  college  curriculum  or  plan  of  in- 
struction, and  it  only  brought  a  few  faculty  changes,  but  it  was 
directly  the  cause  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  second 
women's  medical  college  referred  to,  i.  e.,  the  "Woman's  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,"  which  became  identified  with  the 
New  York  Dispensary  and  Hospital  for  Women  and  Children,  and 
later  with  Cornell  University.  The  new  school  was  classed  as 
"regular,"  and  Dr.  Clemence  S.  Lozier  assumed  direction  of  its 
chair  of  theory  and  practice,  and  of  diseases  of  women  and  chTT- 
dren,  and  Dr.  A.  W.  Lozier  also  accepted  a  professorship  of  sur- 
gery, pathology  and  microscopic  anatomy  in  the  "regular"  school. 
But  soon  Dr.  Clemence  S.  Lozier  devoted  herself  wholly  to  the 
college  she  had  founded,  and  became  a  complete  convert  to  homoe- 
opathy. The  new  school  to  some  extent  detrimentally  affected  the 
enrollments  at  the  pioneer  women's  college,  but  without  seriously 
impairing  its  strength. 

The  first  session,  opening  in  October,  1863,  was  attended  by 
eighteen  students.  Constituting  the  first  class  were:  Emily  S. 
Schettler,  Elizabeth  D.  Wright,  Elizabeth  B.  A.  Hamilton,  Amelia 
G.  Pollock,  Anna  C.  Van  Ness,  Margaret  Cooper,  Harriet  E.  Hall, 
Anna  A.  Manning,  Mary  E.  Tracy,  Eloise  B.  Smith,  Harriet 
Clisby,  S.  Amelia  Barnet,  and  Jane  E.  Spaulding.  Of  this  class, 
Miss  Emily  C.  Schettler  was  the  only  student  in  a  position  to 
conform  with  all  the  state  requirements  for  graduation,  and  was 
the  only  graduate  of  the  college  at  the  commencement  in  1864, 
the  others  graduating,  without  exception,  in  the  class  of  1865. 

In  1864  the  trustees  obtained  from  the  Legislature  further  pow- 
ers, the  charter  being  amended  to  authorize  them  to  establish  a 
hospital  for  women  and  children  in  connection  with  the  college, 
as  had  been  the  original  intention.    Under  the  amended  charter 


556 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


the  corporation  was  henceforth  to  be  known  as  the  *'New  York 
Medical  College  and  Hospital  for  Women  and  Children." 

In  1866  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New 
York  deemed  it  advisable  to  make  certain  changes  in  the  charter, 
virtually  reincorporating  the  institution,  on  the  petition  of  the 
trustees.  This  established  the  college  more  securely,  and  there- 
after it  steadily  progressed. 

For  the  second  session,  Dr.  John  Ellis  became  Professor  of 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine;  Dr.  Joel  R.  Andrews,  Professor 
of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Surgery;  Dr.  James  Hyatt,  of 
Chemistry  and  Toxicology;  and  Dr.  S.  R.  Kirby,  of  Therapeutics 
and  Materia  Medica.  Mrs.  William  H.  Greenough  was  president 
of  the  board  of  trustees,  and  held  the  office  until  1870 ;  Mrs.  Dr. 
Isaac  M.  Ward  was  appointed  vice-president;  Mrs.  Amos  C.  White 
became  recording  secretary;  and  Mrs.  H.  B.  Elliott,  recording 
secretary.    The  graduating  class  of  1865  numbered  fifteen. 

In  the  Announcement  for  1865-66,  the  trustees  made  an  urgent 
appeal  to  the  public  for  assistance  in  furthering  the  hospital  proj- 
ect. The  school  had  accomplished  much  good  work  in  the  educa- 
tion of  women  for  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  entered  upon 
unique  charitable  work  in  offering  free  education  to  women  to 
better  fit  themselves  for  missionary  labor  among  heathen  peoples. 
In  1867  it  was  announced  that  '*six  capable  and  well  educated 
women,  whose  means  are  limited,  may  be  annually  received  on 
payment  of  matriculation  and  demonstration  fees"  of  five  dollars 
each.  For  the  third  session,  two  prominent  professors  of  the  New 
York  Homoeopathic  Medical  College  joined  the  faculty  of  the 
Women's  College,  Prof.  T.  F.  Allen  taking  the  department  of 
Chemistry  and  Toxicology,  and  Carroll  Dunham,  that  of  Thera- 
peutics and  Materia  Medica.  At  the  commencement  in  1866,  only 
three  students  were  graduated,  but  the  trustees  and  faculty  were 
moderately  satisfied  with  the  attending  classes.  In  1866-67  there 
were  nine  graduates. 

Mrs.  C.  S.  Lozier,  to  further  the  hospital  movement,  subscribed 
$10,000  to  the  fund.  This  was  referred  to  by  the  trustees,  who 
announced:  ''We  have  a  college  building,  which  the  timely  aid 
of  our  legislature  and  city  has  enabled  us  to  secure,  and  in  part 
pay  for.  A  permanent  dispensary  has  been  established,  and  as 
soon  as  we  have  the  requisite  funds,  $100,000,  our  hospital  will 
also  be  permanently  established.    To  aid  in  our  labors,  Mrs.  C.  S. 


MEDICAL  COLLEGE  FOR  WOMEN  557 


Lozier  has  ^ven  us  $6,000  of  her  $10,000  subscription  made  March 
1,  1867."  The  total  donations  of  cash  prior  to  1867  amounted  to 
about  $3,000,  but  the  fund  increased  during  the  year,  the  city 
making"  an  appropriation  of  $5,000,  the  State  $3,400,  and  other 
contributions  from  friends  totalled  to  more  than  $10,000. 

The  new  College  building  was  a  structure  on  Second  Avenue 
and  Twelfth  street.  The  building  was  remodelled,  to  meet  col- 
legiate requirements,  and  to  provide  facility  for  dispensary  work. 
In  1868  substantial  amounts  were  received  for  the  hospital  build- 
ing fund;  included  were  further  sums  from  city  and  state,  $5,500 
and  $10,000,  respectively. 

In  1867-68,  J.  V.  C.  Smith  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  Anat- 
omy; E.  P.  Fowler,  to  Theory  and  Practice;  F.  L.  H.  Willis,  to 
Materia  Medica  and  Toxicology ;  Mrs.  C.  S.  Lozier  was  made  Emer- 
itus Professor  of  Diseases  of  Women.  At  the  Commencement  in 
1868,  eight  students  graduated;  in  1869  eleven  graduated.  In 
that  session,  the  chair  of  Clinical  Medicine  was  taken  by  Prof. 
Samuel  Lilienthal,  president  of  the  New  York  County  Homoeo- 
pathic Medical  Society;  and  Mrs.  Dr.  Charlotte  A.  Lozier  became 
assistant  to  the  chair  of  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 

In  1869-70,  the  trustees  adopted  a  higher  standard  of  require- 
ment for  graduation;  candidates  would  henceforth  be  required  to 
attend  three  courses  of  lectures.  Their  announcement  stated  that 
**the  method  of  instruction  generally  adopted  in  our  medical 
schools  is  not  conducive  to  the  highest  success.  Instead  of  requir- 
ing students  of  different  classes  to  attend  upon  the  same  course 
of  lectures  through  each  of  two  successive  terms,  it  is  deemed  more 
philosophical  to  divide  and  grade  the  studies,  and  therefore  essen- 
tial to  a  thorough  education,  to  extend  the  period  of  academic 
attendance.  Our  course  of  study  is  arranged  in  conformity  with 
these  convictions." 

The  condition  of  the  college  was  now  satisfactory  and  encour- 
aging. The  dispensary  had  developed  rapidly,  and  had  become 
practically  a  hospital.  Thirty-three  students  attended  the  lectures 
in  1868-69,  and  since  the  inception  the  institution  had  supplied 
the  medical  profession  with  forty-five  capable  women  physicians, 
a  result  the  trustees  viewed  with  gratification.  The  departments 
were  comprehensive,  and  the  faculty  quite  adequate,  comprising 
ten  professorships,  with  one  lecturer  and  one  demonstrator,  and 
although  by  comparison  with  medical  colleges  for  men  students. 


558 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


the  enrollments  assumed  diminutive  proportions,  they  were  suffi- 
cient to  encourage  the  trustees  and  faculty  to  renewed  efforts. 

The  Hospital  was  opened  September  15,  1869 ;  at  the  end  of  the 
college  session,  43  patients  had  been  treated,  twenty-five  births 
occurring,  and  the  dispensary  physicians  treated  1,300  cases, 
attended  1,530  outside  calls,  and  gave  8,000  prescriptions. 

The  session  1870-71  was  attended  by  thirty-five  students,  six 
of  whom  graduated,  as  against  five  of  the  preceding  year.  During 
1870-71,  John  C.  Minor  had  the  Department  of  Principles  and 
Practice  of  Surgery;  S.  P.  Burdick  became  Professor  of  Obstetrics; 
E,  M.  Kellogg  took  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children;  and  Mrs. 
C.  S.  Lozier  became  Emeritus  Professor  of  Diseases  of  Women  and 
Children.  The  board  of  trustees,  which  up  to  that  time  and  for 
five  years  thereafter  was  composed  wholly  of  women,  nominated 
Mrs.  Richard  R.  Connolly  to  succeed  Mrs.  Greenough  to  the  presi- 
dency, which  office  she  had  held  with  much  credit  since  1864,  and 
during  which  period  much  had  been  accomplished. 

The  lengthening  of  the  term  and  the  requisite  for  graduation 
affected  the  enrollments  for  some  years,  but  met  with  the  approval 
of  the  profession  at  large,  and  elevated  the  standard  of  instruc- 
tion. In  addition  to  didactic  instruction,  four  clinics  were  held 
weekly  in  the  college  building,  two  in  the  New  York  Homoeopathic 
Dispensary,  and  two  in  the  New  York  Ophthalmic  Hospital.  There 
had  been  also,  for  some  years,  a  supplementary  or  spring  term, 
devoted  particularly  to  ophthalmology,  obstetrical  surgery,  auscul- 
tation, and  microscopic  examinations. 

For  1871-72,  Dr.  F.  E.  Doughty  took  the  department  of  Sur- 
gery, and  H.  C.  Houghton,  that  of  Physiology.  In  the  next  ses- 
sion Alfred  K.  Hills  became  head  of  Materia  Medica  and  Thera- 
peutics; Dr.  Mary  H.  Everett,  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy;  and 
Dr.  Abraham  W.  Lozier,  Professor  of  Histology.  In  1873,  Dr. 
James  A.  Carmichael  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  Anatomy; 
Robert  McMurray  to  Clinical  Medicine;  William  0.  MacDonald 
to  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children;  and  Charles  A.  Avery  to 
the  department  of  Chemistry  and  Toxicology.  For  1875-76,  Wil- 
liam Tod  Helmuth  was  appointed  Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery; 
E.  Carlton,  Jr.,  to  Surgery;  William  N.  Guernsey  and  Amelia 
Bamett  to  the  department  of  Obstetrics.  The  graduating  class 
of  1872  numbered  eight;  that  of  the  next  year,  nine;  in  1874 
there  were  seven  graduates;  and  in  1875,  nine. 


MEDICAL  COLLEGE  FOR  WOMEN 


559 


By  that  time  the  school  had  passed  beyond  the  experimental 
period  of  its  history,  and  had  confuted  the  predictions  of  certain 
prejudiced  persons  who  had  anticipated  a  very  short  period  of 
existence  for  the  Women's  College  of  Medicine.  All  ''regular" 
medical  colleges  had  closed  their  doors  to  women  students  when 
the  subject  was  first  broached,  but  after  the  New  York  Medical 
College  and  Hospital  for  Women  had  successfully  passed  its  first 
decade,  some  of  the  professional  schools  adopted  the  co-educa- 
tional principle.  The  Announcement  for  the  eleventh  session  of 
the  Women's  College  referred  to  the  subject  thus:  "The  medical 
education  of  women  is  no  longer  a  question.  It  is  now  a  fact, 
accomplished  and  accepted  as  such,  even  by  those  who  were  at 
first  its  strongest  opponents."  The  Announcement  further  stated 
the  conviction  "that  the  medical  education  of  women  must  be 
more  thorough  and  carried  to  a  higher  degree  than  the  medical 
education  of  men,"  in  which  must  come  greater  attention  to 
details  and  a  more  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  subjects  of  study 
than  that  "obtainable  in  the  ordinary  medical  colleges." 

In  1874  the  trustees  acquired  a  new  property  at  301  Lexing- 
ton avenue.  The  plan  involved  an  outlay  of  $125,000,  and  when 
the  building  was  ready  for  occupancy,  the  former  college  building 
was  sold.  For  better  operation  of  the  new  hospital  department, 
an  aid  society  of  ladies,  termed  "Hospital  Managers,"  was  organ- 
ized to  assist  the  medical  staff.  The  principal  purpose  to  which 
the  "Hospital  Managers"  applied  themselves  was  the  raising  of 
funds  for  the  hospital  maintenance,  but  they  in  other  ways  be- 
came a  factor  of  importance,  and  "carried  forward  a  noble  char- 
ity for  several  years. ' '  The  medical  staff  first  appointed  included 
Drs.  John  F.  Gray,  Edward  Bayard,  Henry  D.  Paine,  Lewis  Hal- 
lock,  Henry  B.  Smith,  E.  J.  P.  Fowler,  William  J.  Baner,  S. 
Lilienthal,  C.  S.  Lozier,  Mary  W.  Noxon,  Alfred  K.  Hills,  R.  Mc- 
Murray,  Orlena  F.  Smith,  W.  T.  Helmuth,  E.  Carleton,  Jr.,  F.  E. 
Doughty,  W.  0.  MacDonald,  most  of  whom  were  professors  of  the 
collegiate  department,  and  also  identified  with  the  New  York 
Homoeopathic  Medical  College  and  Hospital. 

The  acquisition  of  the  new  property  made  necessary  further 
charter  powers,  which  were  granted  in  a  charter  amendment  of 
April  6,  1875.  But  with  the  development  of  the  institution  came 
also  increased  business  responsibilities,  in  which  the  women  admin- 
istrators broadmindedly  recognized  that  they  might  secure  mate- 


560 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


rial  assistance  by  introducing  to  the  board  capable  administrators 
of  the  opposite  sex.  Consequently,  in  1875,  the  board  was  strength- 
ened by  the  inclusion  in  it  of  four  men,  Isaac  C.  Kendall,  Henry 
G.  Stebbins,  David  I.  Ely,  and  Charles  Butler.  The  institution, 
however,  experienced  much  financial  stress  during  the  next  few 
years;  in  fact,  the  project  of  erecting  costly  buildings  on  the  site 
of  the  Lexington  avenue  building  purchased  and  at  that  time  occu- 
pied by  them  had  to  be  abandoned.  Worse  disaster  befell  the 
institution,  as  the  trustees  were  forced  to  sell  the  Lexington  ave- 
nue property,  and  remove  the  college  temporarily  to  Lexington 
avenue  and  Thirty-seventh  street,  where,  in  inadequate  quarters, 
it  remained  until  1881.  The  trustees  attributed  the  disaster  indi- 
rectly to  the  financial  panic  and  the  consequent  dearth  of  public 
interest  in  the  support  of  institutions  of  a  charitable  nature.  Not- 
withstanding, the  college  continued  its  sessions.  In  1876  there 
were  only  four  graduates,  but  the  class  of  the  next  year  numbered 
nine ;  in  1878  there  were  27,  a  class  almost  as  great  in  number  as 
the  combined  classes  of  the  four  years  immediately  preceding, 
although  the  graduates  of  the  next  two  sessions,  1879  and  1880, 
numbered  only  six  and  seven,  respectively. 

Faculty  changes  included:  1877 — Henry  R.  Stiles,  to  profes- 
sorship of  Physiology  and  Psychological  Medicine ;  George  M.  Dil- 
low,  to  Chemistry  and  Toxicology.  1878 — Timothy  F.  Allen,  to 
Materia  Medica;  N.  A.  Nosman,  to  Diseases  of  Women;  St.  Clair 
Smith,  to  Physiology  and  Hygiene ;  L.  L.  Danforth,  to  Obstetrics. 
1879— Mary  E.  Bond,  to  Materia  Medica;  J.  M.  Schley,  to  Prin- 
ciples and  Practice  of  Medicine;  Louise  Gerrard,  to  Anatomy; 
Jennie  de  la  M.  Lozier,  to  Associate  Professorship  of  Physiology. 

The  session  of  1879-80  will  always  be  memorable,  because  it  was 
immediately  after  the  commencement  of  that  year  that  the  Alumnae 
Association  of  the  New  York  Medical  College  and  Hospital  for 
Women  was  organized,  with  the  object  of  working  ' '  for  the  higher 
interests  of  the  medical  profession,  and  by  united  action  to  pro- 
mote social  and  harmonious  feeling  among  its  members,  and  espe- 
cially to  awaken  personal  interest  in  their  alma  mater.''  From 
its  inception  the  Association  has  exercised  a  powerful  influence  in 
molding  the  policy  and  promoting  the  welfare  of  the  institution. 
It  is  apparent  that  the  graduates  were  aware  of  the  limited  re- 
sources of  the  institution,  and  had  determined  to  aid  as  far  as 
lay  in  their  power,  for  in  its  first  year  the  Alumnae  Association 


MEDICAL  COLLEGE  FOR  WOMEN 


561 


handed  in  for  the  hospital  fund  the  sum  of  $1,400  which  its  mem- 
bers had  given  and  collected. 

In  1879,  for  the  first  time,  a  man  was  elected  to  the  headship 
of  the  institution,  Charles  Butler  becoming  president  of  the  board 
of  trustees.  Following  him,  in  1881,  came  Stephen  Cutter,  who 
remained  in  the  presidency  until  1886,  and  a  woman  did  not  again 
occupy  the  presidential  chair  until  1894,  since  which  time  that 
sex  has  held  this  chief  honor. 

For  1880-81,  J.  M.  Schley  appeared  as  secretary  of  the  faculty; 
William  J.  Baner,  Professor  of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of 
Medicine;  Dr.  Phoebe  J.  B.  Wait,  first  president  of  the  Alumnae 
Association,  Professor  of  Obstetrics;  Mrs.  J.  G.  Brinkman,  Gyne- 
cology ;  Mary  H.  Everett,  chief  of  Pathological  Anatomy  and  His- 
tology ;  Henry  A.  Mott,  Chemistry ;  F.  H.  Boynton,  Ophthalmology 
and  Otology ;  J.  M.  Schley,  transferred  to  the  chair  of  Diseases  of 
the  Throat  and  Chest.  In  1881,  Sarah  J.  White  took  part  of 
Dr.  Schley's  duties,  and  the  following  year  took  over  the  depart- 
ment of  Mental  and  Nervous  Diseases;  William  B.  Wait,  Esq., 
was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  Medical  Jurisprudence ;  and  Dr. 
M.  L.  Holbrook  to  Hygiene.  In  1883,  Juliet  P.  Van  Evera  became 
Professor  of  Diseases  of  Children;  and  W.  Storm  White,  Path- 
ological Anatomy  and  Histology.  In  the  next  year  R.  Heber 
Bedell  became  Professor  of  the  Principles  and  Practice  of  Med- 
icine. 

In  the  nineteenth  annual  Announcement,  the  trustees  mentioned 
with  gratification  that  they  had  secured  **a  commodious  building 
admirably  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  college  and  hospital."  The 
property,  leased  in  1881,  was  destined  to  be  the  home  of  the  col- 
lege for  nearly  twenty  years.  Situated  on  West  54th  street,  be- 
tween Broadway  and  Seventh  avenue,  and  although  not  providing 
all  desirable  facilities,  it  was  a  decided  improvement  on  former 
conditions,  and  ''was  readily  adapted  to  its  intended  occupancy 
only  as  women  of  determination  can  adapt  conditions  to  suit  their 
requirements."  The  building  housed  the  students  for  the  session 
of  1881-82,  and  at  the  commencement  the  medical  degree  was  con- 
ferred on  ten  graduates,  a  larger  class  than  any  since  1878,  which 
with  its  extraordinarily  large  class  of  twenty-seven  graduates  had 
established  a  record  difficult  of  equalization.  The  class  of  1883 
numbered  eight,  the  next  year  an  identical  number,  and  the  1885 
class  thirteen,  a  gratifying  increase.    For  1883-84  gold  prizes 


562 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


were  introduced  by  Professor  S.  Storm  White,  for  the  best  and 
most  complete  notes  on  his  lectures  on  pathological  anatomy,  and 
histology.  In  the  succeeding  session,  Dr.  Lozier,  the  dean,  estab- 
lished a  gold  prize  for  the  most  excellent  record  of  her  clinical 
lectures,  and  several  other  prizes  were  soon  afterwards  established. 

The  most  important  event  during  the  next  five  years  (1886- 
1890)  was  one  which  cast  a  gloom  over  the  whole  establishment. 
In  1881,  April  26,  Mrs.  Dr.  Clemence  Sophia  Lozier,  founder  of 
the  college,  dean  since  1866,  and  Emeritus  Professor  of  Diseases 
of  Women  and  Children,  passed  away.  The  ''History  of  Homoe- 
opathy" (Lewis  Pub.  Co.,  1905)  states  regarding  this  calamitous 
event  in  the  college  history:  ''For  more  than  twenty-five  years 
she  had  been  the  guiding  spirit  of  the  school  .  .  .  had  labored 
unceasingly,  giving  her  strength,  her  time,  and  her  money,  with 
free  and  unstinted  hand,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  to  women  a 
medical  education  equal  to  that  of  men."  At  her  death,  the 
whole  of  the  homoeopathic  medical  profession  mourned  with  her 
family,  and  the  board  of  trustees  and  faculty  placed  on  record 
in  the  coUege  Announcement  their  appreciation  of  her  labors.  The 
resolution  of  the  faculty  said  "that  in  her  death  the  cause  of 
medical  education  for  women  has  lost  a  pioneer  and  earnest  advo- 
cate .  .  .  who  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  permitted  no  selfish 
motives  to  come  between  her  and  its  best  interests."  In  a  char- 
acter-sketch Dr.  Annie  S.  Higbie  wrote:  "Mrs.  Lozier  was  strong, 
because  no  woman  of  her  time  possessed  to  a  greater  degree  the 
courage  of  her  convictions,  or  was  quicker  to  act  upon  them," 
and  of  the  days  immediately  following  that  of  Dr.  Lozier 's  death 
she  wrote,  "Forty-eight  women  physicians,  graduates  of  the  col- 
lege she  founded,  passed  her  cofiin,  and  took  a  last  look  at  her 
sweet  face,  and  dropped  into  the  casket  a  sprig  of  arbor  vitae  as 
their  tribute  of  love." 

Dr.  Lozier 's  was  a  life  of  noteworthy  achievement,  and  she  de- 
servedly is  given  premier  place  of  honor  in  all  historical  reviews 
of  the  institution.  She  had  been  Emeritus  Professor  of  Diseases 
of  Women  and  Children  since  1868,  but  for  several  years  the  ardu- 
ous duties  of  her  chair  had  been  performed  by  others.  Dr.  Mary 
A.  Brinckman  being  Professor  of  Diseases  of  Women,  and  Dr. 
Juliet  P.  Van  Evera  of  Diseases  of  Children.  Dr.  Lozier,  how- 
ever, held  to  her  labors  in  administrative  and  professorial  capac- 
ities almost  to  her  death ;  at  least,  until  ill  health  totally  incapac- 


MEDICAL  COLLEGE  FOR  WOMEN  563 


itated  her.  And  even  then,  such  had  heen  her  worthiness,  and 
value  to  the  institution,  that  the  trustees  merely  assigned  substi- 
tutes to  perform  her  duties,  determined  that  as  long  as  she  lived 
her  name  should  head  the  faculty  roster.  After  her  death.  Dr. 
Phoebe  J.  B.  Wait  was  appointed  dean,  and  continued  to  perform 
the  duties  of  the  chair  of  obstetrics.  Dr.  Wait,  class  of  1871,  had 
since  her  graduation  been  a  member  of  the  teaching  staff,  and 
had  succeeded  Prof.  Loomis  L.  Danforth  as  Professor  of  Obstetrics, 
in  1880.  She  served  as  dean  until  1896,  when  she  was  succeeded 
by  Dr.  J.  de  la  M.  Lozier. 

The  five-year  period  of  1886-1890  brought  the  following  ap- 
pointments: 1886 — M.  H.  Dearborn,  to  Principles  and  Practice  of 
Medicine;  Annie  Smith  to  Anatomy;  George  C.  Hawley  to  Chem- 
istry; J.  T.  O'Connor,  Mental  and  Nervous  Diseases.  In  1887 — 
William  H.  Bennett  became  Professor  of  Chemistry;  Thomas  C. 
Williams,  Physical  Diagnosis  and  Diseases  of  Heart  and  Lungs. 
In  1888  Alexander  S.  Lyman  came  to  the  chair  of  Medical  Juris- 
prudence. In  1889 — Dr.  M.  Belle  Brown,  class  of  1879,  became 
Professor  of  the  Diseases  of  Women;  B.  W.  James,  Physiology; 
Louise  Z.  Buckholz,  Chemistry.  In  1890  Emily  Kempin  became 
the  head  of  the  department  of  Medical  Jurisprudence.  The  grad- 
uating classes  of  these  years  were:  1886,  thirteen;  1887,  ten; 
1888,  nine;  1889,  five;  1890,  fifteen. 

The  trustees  elected  president  in  1886,  Rev.  Henry  Day,  who 
served  until  1894,  with  Mrs.  C.  Fowler  Wells  as  vice-president. 
The  office  of  second  vice-president,  which  was  abolished  in  1866, 
was  reestablished  in  1887,  Henry  Welsh  being  elected  to  the  honor ; 
two  years  later  he  was  succeeded  by  William  Jennings  Demorest, 
who  vacated  the  office  the  following  year,  and  it  had  no  incum- 
bent until  1896,  when  Mrs.  Mary  Day  was  elected.  Dr.  Cordelia 
Williams  succeeded  Amelia  Wright  as  recording  secretary  in  1888 ; 
Dr.  Mary  S.  Mann  became  corresponding  secretary. 

In  1893,  the  trustees,  with  approval  of  the  faculty,  adopted 
the  four  years'  graded  course.  Respecting  this  change,  which  had 
such  disastrous  possibilities  to  the  college  enrollments,  without 
which  of  course  the  college  could  not  prosper,  the  ''History  of 
Homoeopathy"  (Lewis  Pub.  Co.,  1905)  states: 

"This  step  was  taken  advisedly,  and  after  full  consideration  of  its 
probable  effect  and  ultimate  result  for  it  was  assumed  that  the  change 
would  increase  the  cost  of  medical  education  to  students,  and  would 


564 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


probably  reduce  the  attendance,  and  also  the  revenues  of  the  school;  but 
the  four  years'  compulsory  course  was  being  adopted  by  other  medical 
colleges  in  the  interest  of  more  thorough  education  and  to  meet  the  exact- 
ing requirements  of  the  laws;  and  as  the  New  York  Medical  College  and 
Hospital  for  Women  never  was  a  follower,  but  always  a  leader,  as  it  was 
in  fact  a  pioneer,  the  new  advance  step  was  taken  early,  even  before  the 
standard  of  professional  education  was  raised  by  the  regents." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  majority  of  the  leading  medical  col- 
leges did  not  adopt  the  four  years '  course  until  1897,  and  the  New- 
York  Medical  Colleges  had  only  made  a  three  years'  course  com- 
pulsory in  1891,  whereas  the  New  York  Medical  College  for  Women 
had  inaugurated  a  compulsory  three-year  standard  as  far  back  as 
1869-1870,  so  that  the  words  ''always  a  leader,  as  it  was  in  fact  a 
pioneer,"  were  not  mere  vapid  flourishes.  The  plan  for  the  ex- 
tended course  was  courageously  introduced,  though  with  much 
misgiving  as  to  detrimental  financial  possibilities.  Happily,  they 
experienced  a  contrary  effect;  the  introduction  made  no  apprecia- 
ble effect  upon  attendances.  And  in  prestige  and  high  professional 
standing,  the  institution  certainly  gained.  The  graduates  of  the 
five-year  period,  1891-1895,  were :  nine  in  1891 ;  the  same  number 
in  1892;  six  in  1893;  eighteen  in  1894;  and  ten  in  1895.  The 
faculty  changes  were:  1892 — Dr.  Malcolm  Leal,  Associate  Profes- 
sor of  Principles  and  Practice  of  Medicine;  Louise  Lanin,  Profes- 
sor of  Diseases  of  Children;  Frank  Moss,  Esq.,  Department  of 
Medical  Jurisprudence.  In  1893,  Dr.  A.  R.  McMichael  became 
Professor  of  Materia  Medica ;  Dr.  Sidney  F.  Wilcox,  of  Surgery ; 
and  William  F.  Honan  of  Physiology.  In  1894,  Dr.  Gertrude 
Allen  succeeded  to  the  chair  of  Physiology,  and  in  1895  Dr.  Har- 
riette  D'Esmonde  Keatinge  became  Professor  of  Pathological 
Anatomy  and  Histology. 

In  1895,  the  trustees  made  application  to  the  Regents  of  the 
University  of  the  State  for  an  ordinance  of  reincorporation,  and 
a  new  charter  was  granted,  naming  as  trustees:  Amelia  Wright, 
Charlotte  Fowler  Wells,  Ellen  Louis  Demorest,  Rosalie  MacBride, 
Cordelia  Williams,  Henry  S.  Day,  Mary  Knox  Robinson,  Louise 
A.  Wilson,  Jefferson  M.  Levy,  Marion  Gurney,  Andrew  J.  Rob- 
inson, Harriet  L.  Bender,  Mary  Day,  Mary  Eliza  Merritt,  Mar- 
garitta  Kingsland  Welsh,  and  Mary  Lloyd.  By  the  action  of  the 
Regents,  the  New  York  Medical  College  and  Hospital  for  Women 
was  incorporated  a  part  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New 


MEDICAL  COLLEGE  FOR  WOMEN 


565 


York.  Diplomas  were  to  be  signed  by  the  trustees  and  faculty 
administrative  heads,  and  countersigned  by  the  regents,  thereby 
insuring  a  diploma  ''equal  to  that  of  any  medical  institution  in 
America. ' ' 

For  a  decade  the  trustees  and  faculty  had  been  endeavoring  to 
provide  more  suitable  quarters  for  both  college  and  hospital.  Said 
the  trustees  of  the  hospital  department :  ' '  Our  work  has  outgrown 
the  limits  of  the  building  we  now  occupy;  and  our  only  hope  is 
that  some  noble  persons  .  .  .  will  aid  us  in  securing  a  building 
adequate  in  size  and  better  calculated  for  the  work  we  have  to 
do."  In  1887  the  trustees  endeavored  to  establish  a  fund  for  the 
purpose,  but  received  little  encouragement,  and  after  the  deatH 
in  1888  of  Dr.  Lozier,  the  alumnse  and  personal  friends  of  the 
decedent  undertook  to  raise  funds  for  the  erection  of  a  hospital 
building  to  be  known  as  ''The  Lozier  Memorial  Pavilion."  The 
Alumnae  Association  shortly  afterwards  organized  a  fair,  which 
increased  the  fund  by  nearly  $2,000.  But  for  several  years,  the 
subscriptions  were  such  as  to  prohibit  immediate  application  to 
the  projected  undertakings.  In  1895  the  fund  amounted  to  only 
$8,000,  but  was  then  rapidly  growing.  In  1896  the  trustees  took 
more  decisive  action,  and  in  the  following  year  purchased  land  on 
101st  street,  west  of  Central  Park.  In  the  meantime  it  had  been 
decided  to  erect  both  college  and  hospital  buildings,  the  college 
first,  and  the  latter  ' '  as  soon  as  the  needed  funds  could  be  raised. ' ' 
The  estimated  cost  of  the  college  building  was  $25,000  and  of  the 
hospital  $45,000.  Building  operations  were  commenced,  and  in 
October,  1898,  the  western  half  of  the  structure  occupied  by  the 
college  was  ready;  the  erection  of  the  right  half  of  the  building, 
as  it  is  to-day,  for  the  purposes  of  the  hospital,  was  not  commenced 
until  1901. 

One  of  the  most  efficient  agents  in  providing  funds  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  hospital  building  was  the  Hospital  Guild,  which 
body  of  worthy  workers  collected  and  paid  to  the  treasurer  the 
sum  of  $12,000.  The  building,  which  is  in  French  renaissance 
style,  has  a  frontage  of  forty -five  feet,  and  is  of  substantial  con- 
struction, limestone  up  to  the  line  of  the  first  floor,  the  rest  of  the 
building  of  brick.  At  the  time  it  was  stated  that  the  college  pos- 
sessed "one  of  the  most  modem  medical  school  buildings  in  the 
country. ' ' 

Regarding  the  collegiate  courses  of  the  five-year  period,  1896- 


566 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


1900,  the  ^aduating  classes  did  not  hold  up  the  satisfactory- 
average  as  to  numbers.  There  were  five  graduates  in  1896,  seven 
in  1897,  four  in  1898,  six  in  1899,  and  four  in  1900.  In  the  suc- 
ceeding five  years,  however,  the  classes  were  more  encouraging, 
that  of  1901  containing  eight;  1902,  six;  1903,  eight;  1904,  six, 
and  1905,  nine.  The  staff  now  comprises  23  professors,  and  22 
instructors  of  other  grades. 

The  most  important  faculty  changes  during  the  period  were  the 
appointment  of  H.  M.  Dearborn,  as  president  of  the  faculty  in 
1896,  an  office  to  which  no  member  of  the  faculty  had  been  ap- 
pointed since  1864,  when  Dr.  Clemence  Sophia  Lozier  was  elected 
to  it.  Dr.  Dearborn  held  the  honor  until  1899,  when  F.  H.  Boyn- 
ton  was  appointed.  In  1896  Dr.  Phoebe  J.  B.  Wait  retired  from 
the  deanship,  and  Dr.  Jennie  de  la  M.  Lozier  succeeded  to  the 
office,  two  years  later  to  be  succeeded  by  Dr.  M.  Belle  Brown. 
Other  faculty  changes  were:  1896 — Dr.  Emily  V.  Pardee,  Pro- 
fessor of  Hygiene  and  Dietetics;  Dr.  Marea  H.  Brokhaus,  Laryn- 
gology and  Rhinology;  William  H.  King,  Electro-Therapeutics; 
William  E.  Rounds,  Otology.  1897— Rita  Dunlevy,  Otology;  St. 
Clair  Smith,  Diseases  of  Children ;  Geo.  W.  Roberts,  Adjunct  Pro- 
fessor of  Surgery.  1898 — Geo.  G.  Sheldon,  Physical  Diagnosis  and 
Diseases  of  the  Heart  and  Lungs;  J.  Perry  Seward,  Hygiene  and 
Dietetics.  1899 — Helen  Cooley,  Chemistry;  Elizabeth  Jarrett, 
Adjunct  Professor,  Practice  of  Medicine.  1900 — Helen  CoUey 
Palmer,  Chemistry.  1901 — ^William  H.  Vanderburg,  Physical 
Diagnosis  and  Diseases  of  Heart  and  Lungs;  George  W.  Roberts, 
Surgery,  1902;  W.  T.  Helmuth,  Orthopedic  Surgery;  Elizabeth 
Jarrett,  Associate,  Practice  of  Medicine;  Sophia  Morganthal^r, 
Associate,  Diseases  of  Women.  1903 — Rita  Dunlevy,  Principles 
of  Surgery;  Eirene  L.  Rounds,  Electro-Therapeutics. 

Mary  Knox  Robinson  was  elected  president  of  the  board  of 
trustees  in  1896,  giving  place  to  Mrs.  Dave  Hennan  Morris  in 
1898,  but  was  again  elected  to  the  presidency  in  the  following  year. 
:She  held  the  office  until  1904,  when  Mrs.  William  Tod  Helmuth 
was  elected. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


SYRACUSE  UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE 

THE  history  of  the  College  of  Medicine  of  Syracuse  University, 
told  completely  and  in  detail,  is  the  history  of  the  develop- 
ment of  New  York  State.  It  has  followed  the  commercial  and 
led  the  professional  development  of  Central  New  York  almost  from 
the  beginning  of  the  settlement  of  this  territory.  The  history  of 
the  college  is  threefold  according  to  the  location  of  the  college; 
first  it  was  at  Fairfield,  next  at  Geneva,  and  then  at  Syracuse. 
And  while  the  connection  between  Fairfield  and  Geneva  was  per- 
haps not  entirely  official,  it  is  yet  logical  and  natural,  and  to  Fair- 
field we  may  with  propriety  trace  back  the  history  of  the  Syracuse 
Medical  College.  The  first  medical  instruction  was  given  at  Fair- 
field in  1809.  Dr.  Alfred  Mercer,  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  professors 
of  the  Syracuse  Medical  College,  wrote  an  account  of  these  three 
periods  of  its  history,  so  full  and  so  delightful,  that  we  shall  quote 
from  it: 

In  1812  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  granted  a  charter  to 
this  embryo  medical  school  under  the  name  and  title  of  the  "College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  western  district  of  the  State  of  New 
York^'  known  as  Fairfield  Medical  College.  It  was  placed  under  the 
direction  of  a  board  of  trustees,  who  organized  the  school  the  following 
year  with  five  professorships;  which,  if  not  in  the  beginning,  were  soon 
after  filled  by  Joseph  White,  Westel  Willoughby,  James  Hadley,  T. 
Romeyn  Beck,  author  of  Beck's  "Medical  Jurisprudence,"  and  James 
McNaughton.  This  was  the  second  medical  school  organized  in  New  York 
State,  and  the  sixth  medical  school  organized  in  the  United  States,  and 
upon  its  benches  many  of  the  early  physicians  of  this  and  other  states 
obtained  their  medical  education. 

Fairfield  Medical  College  held  sway  as  a  popular  and  flourishing  insti- 
tution for  about  thirty  years,  and  well  served  its  purpose  for  its  day  and 
generation.  But  thirty  years  brought  a  new  generation,  with  altogether 
different  surroundings;  lines  of  stage  coaches  had  appeared  and  disap- 
peared, canals  and  railroads  had  changed  and  were  changing  the  whole 
thought  and  business  of  the  country,  and  Fairfield  had  to  yield  to  the 
change  of  surrounding  circumstances.  The  session  of  1839  was  its  last 
session. 

567 


568 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Geneva  Medical  College  was  chartered  in  1834,  and  the  first  course  of 
lectures  was  given  in  1835,  the  following  gentlemen  constituting  the 
faculty  of  the  college:  Edward  Cutbrish,  Willard  Parker,  Thomas  Spen- 
cer, John  G.  Morgan,  Charles  B.  Coventry,  of  Utica,  and  Amos  Colman. 
The  Albany  Medical  College  obtained  its  charter  in  1839,  four  years 
later,  both  proving  rivals  to  Fairfield.  At  the  breaking  up  of  the  Fairfield 
School  at  the  close  of  the  session  of  1839  and  1840,  the  faculty  found 
new  fields  of  labor  at  Albany  and  Geneva.  Profs.  Beck  and  McNaugh- 
ton  were  elected  to  chairs  in  the  Albany  Medical  College,  while  Profs. 
Hadley,  DeLamater  and  Hamilton  were  added  to  the  faculty  of  the 
Geneva  Medical  College,  greatly  to  the  advantage,  increasing  its  popu- 
larity and  classes,  which  rivaled  in  numbers  the  classes  of  some  of  the 
older  colleges  of  the  sea-board  cities.  But  this  prosperity  was  not  to  be 
lasting.  The  University  of  Buffalo  instituted  a  medical  department  in 
1846,  proving  a  powerful  rival  to  Geneva.  In  fact,  the  United  States 
seems  to  have  been  seized  by  a  medical  college  mania  about  this  time, 
organizing  forty-four  new  colleges  in  thirty  years  from  1840  to  1870. 
Geneva  Medical  College  as  such  had  an  existence  of  thirty-seven  years, 
from  1835  to  1872,  the  period  of  its  greatest  prosperity  being  from 
1840  to  1850. 

Great  changes  were  taking  plae«  during  these  thirty-seven  years,  in 
the  moving  centers  of  our  population,  in  our  social  and  industrial  thoughts 
and  habits,  in  the  growth  and  development  of  our  great  inland,  as  well 
as  our  sea-board  cities,  by  vast,  widely  extending,  I  may  say,  ocean  to 
ocean,  railway  connections.  The  faculty  of  the  Geneva  Medical  College, 
appreciating  the  situation,  took  steps  in  1871  looking  toward  the  removal 
of  the  college  to  Syracuse,  in  connection  with  the  newly  established 
University  of  Syracuse,  where  two  well-appointed  hospitals  had  been  in 
successful  operation  for  several  years.  Through  the  kindness  of  the 
hospital  trustees  the  college  obtained  permission  to  use  both  of  these  insti- 
tutions for  clinical  instruction. 

This  movement  of  the  faculty  was  successful.  In  1872  the  Geneva 
Medical  College,  with  its  valuable  library  and  museum,  was  transferred 
from  the  village  of  Geneva  to  the  city  of  Syracuse,  and  became  the 
College  of  Medicine  of  the  Syracuse  University.  The  first  steps  in  rela- 
tion to  this  removal  were  taken  late  in  the  year  1871.  A  special  meeting 
of  the  Onondaga  County  Medical  Society  was  held  in  the  court  house 
of  this  city  November  18,  1871,  to  learn  the  views  and  feelings  of  the 
profession  of  the  county  in  regard  to  such  removal.  At  the  meeting  the 
late  Bishop  Jesse  T.  Peck,  D.D.,  and  Dr.  W.  W.  Porter,  of  Geddes,  took 
their  seats  as  representatives  of  the  Syracuse  University.  Profs.  Fred- 
erick Hyde,  of  Cortland,  and  John  Towler,  of  Geneva,  were  present  as 
representatives  of  the  Geneva  Medical  College.  The  subject  was  discussed 
by  the  above-named  gentlemen  and  by  several  members  of  the  Onondaga 
Coimty  Medical  Society. 

The  spirit  and  animus  of  this  discussion  was  that  if  the  college  were 
removed,  it  ought  to  elevate  the  standard  of  culture  above  the  then  pre- 
vailing standard  common  in  nearly  all  the  colleges  of  the  country;  that 


SYRACUSE  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE  569 


we  had  inferior  colleges  enough  as  to  time  of  study  and  the  requirements 
for  graduation ;  that  if  a  medical  department  were  added  to  the  Syracuse 
University  it  ought  to  inaugurate  a  plan  for  a  higher  medical  education. 

These  preliminary  steps  were  followed  by  the  removal  of  the  Geneva 
Medical  College  to  this  city,  and  the  college  was  formally  opened  in 
temporary  apartments  procured  in  the  Clinton  block  on  the  first  Thursday 
of  October,  1872,  which  rooms  were  occupied  for  college  purposes  for 
three  years,  when  the  college  was  removed  to  its  present  location  on 
Orange  street. 

The  following  gentlemen  of  the  faculty  of  the  Geneva  College  still  filled 
chairs  after  its  removal  to  Syracuse :  Profs.  Hyde,  Towler,  Nivison,  East- 
man and  Rider.  Under  the  reorganization,  the  institution  was  known  as 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Syracuse  University.  The 
following  gentlemen  constituted  the  faculty,  giving  the  first  course  of 
lectures  in  Syracuse:  John  Towler,  M.D.,  Frederick  Hyde,  M.D.,  Hiram 
M.  Eastman,  M.D.,  Nelson  Nivison,  M.D.,  Edward  B.  Stevens,  M.D., 
Harvey  B.  Wilbur,  M.D.,  Rev.  John  J.  Brown,  A.M.,  Wilfred  W.  Porter, 
M.D.,  John  Van  Duyn,  M.D.,  Joseph  P.  Dunlap,  M.D.,  Henry  Darwin 
Didima,  M.D.,  Roger  W.  Pease,  M.D.,  Alfred  Mercer,  M.D.,  J.  Otis 
Burt,  M.D.,  Wm.  T.  Plant,  M.D.,  John  W.  Lawton,  M.D.,  Miles  G. 
Hyde,  M.D. 

Since  the  removal  to  Syracuse  the  Medical  College  has  been  pledged 
to  higher  standards.  It  was  the  first  college  in  the  state  and  the  third 
in  the  United  States  to  adopt  a  three-year  course.  It  did  it  in  the 
face  of  opposition.  It  has  continually  labored  for  the  raising  of  standards 
of  admission  and  of  scholarly  attainment. 

Frederick  Hyde,  M.D.,  of  Cortland,  New  York,  Professor  of 
Surgery,  was  the  first  dean  of  the  school  and  served  its  interests 
with  great  intelligence  and  devotion  from  1872  to  1888.  Henry 
Darwin  Didima,  A.M.,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  the  Professor  of  the  Prin- 
ciples and  the  Practice  of  Medicine,  succeeded  him,  and  gave  to 
the  school  the  inspiration  of  his  thorough  training  and  delightful 
personality  from  1888  to  1905.  Gaylord  Parsons  Clark,  A.M., 
M.D.,  was  trained  in  medicine  in  this  school  and  was  the  first  of 
our  own  graduates  to  devote  himself  exclusively  to  teaching.  He 
was  elected  to  the  chair  of  Physiology,  in  which  he  distinguished 
himself  and  earned  a  nation-wide  reputation,  in  1892.  Upon  the 
retirement  of  Dean  Didima  the  faculty  unanimously  turned  to  him 
as  their  administrative  officer  and  he  was  Dean  of  the  school  from 
1905  to  the  day  of  his  sudden  and  most  untimely  death  in  the  early 
fall  of  1907.  It  was  under  Dean  Didima 's  administration  that  the 
new  building  for  the  college  was  erected,  the  curriculum  broadened, 
and  laboratory  teaching  in  accordance  with  University  methods 


570 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


was  introduced.  John  L.  Heffron,  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine, 
was  selected  to  serve  as  dean  upon  the  death  of  Dr.  Clark  and  is 
still  the  incumbent  of  that  position. 

Many  distinguished  men  whose  careers  have  been  closed  by 
death  since  1872  have  served  upon  the  faculty  of  this  school. 
Most  notable  amongst  these  are  Professors  Frederick  Hyde,  Henry 
B.  Wilbur,  Henry  Darwin  Didima,  Alfred  Mercer,  W.  Herbert 
Dunlap,  Henry  B.  Allen,  Gaylord  P.  Clark,  Nathan  Jacobson  and 
Henry  L.  Eisner.  Each  one  of  these  men  was  a  teacher  of  remark- 
able earnestness  and  clarity  and  force,  and  we  recognize  that  the 
success  of  a  school,  in  the  last  analysis,  depends  upon  the  quality 
and  character  of  its  teachers. 

The  entrance  requirements  have  always  been  higher  than  the 
standard  usually  recognized.  In  1909  the  University  demanded 
that  students  should  present  in  addition  to  the  state  requirements 
the  first  year,  and  in  1910  the  first  and  second  years,  a  recognized 
course  in  a  College  of  Arts,  or  of  Science,  and  specified  that  cer- 
tain subjects  should  be  included  in  that  preparatory  work. 

The  laboratory  method  of  instruction  was  early  recognized  and 
extended  into  the  clinical  years.  Laboratory  instruction  in  anat- 
omy, including  histology,  and  in  chemistry,  was  provided  at  the 
outset.  In  1896  the  first  physiological  laboratory  for  students 
opened  in  a  school  in  this  country  was  installed  and  perfectly 
equipped  under  the  professorship  of  Gaylord  P.  Clark.  In  1910 
the  laboratory  for  Clinical  Diagnosis  was  separated  from  the  De- 
partments of  Chemistry  and  Pathology,  and  put  in  charge  of  com- 
petent paid  teachers.  In  1907  the  anatomical  laboratory  was  put 
in  charge  of  fully  paid  teachers.  In  1911  the  department  of  bac- 
teriology was  separated  from  pathology  and  made  a  co-ordinate 
department  under  a  special  corps  of  teachers.  In  1914  the  labora- 
tory of  Hygiene  and  Sanitation  was  equipped  and  put  under  the 
charge  of  the  professor  of  Bacteriology.  In  1915  arrangements 
were  consummated  by  which  the  department  of  Hygiene  and  Sani- 
tation became  responsible  for  the  work  in  the  city  bateriological 
laboratory,  so  that  this  laboratory  is  also  a  teaching  laboratory. 

The  physical  equipment  of  the  college  has  kept  pace  with  its  edu- 
cational development.  In  1896  an  adequate  building  for  the  labo- 
ratory courses  was  dedicated  by  the  University.  In  1914  an  unsur- 
passed building  was  erected  by  the  University  for  a  teaching  Free 
Dispensary.   In  1915  the  University  accepted  the  property  of  the 


SYRACUSE  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE  571 


Hospital  of  the  Good  Shepherd  and  has  developed  it  into  a  plant 
well  fitted  for  the  clinical  teaching  of  Medicine  and  Surgery. 

Besides  this  hospital  the  school  has  the  unrestricted  use  of  the 
clinical  material  in  the  following  hospitals:  St.  Joseph's  Hospital, 
the  oldest  and  largest  hospital  in  the  city;  the  Syracuse  Memorial 
Hospital,  with  a  large  department  for  children  and  an  Eye,  Ear, 
Nose  and  Throat  Infirmary  (formerly  known  as  the  Syracuse  Hos- 
pital for  Women  and  Children),  the  New  York  State  Institution  for 
Feeble  Minded,  the  Onondaga  County  Orphans  Home,  the  City 
Hospitals  for  Contagious  Diseases,  the  City  Psychopathic  Hospital, 
and  the  City  Tuberculosis  Clinic. 

The  Library  of  the  college  now  contains  10,428  volumes  and  its 
reading  room  has  upon  its  tables  the  current  literature  of  the 
United  States  and  of  all  foreign  countries.  The  Library  has  been 
enriched  by  the  gifts  of  books  from  many  sources,  the  richest  of 
which  has  been  the  library  of  Dr.  Stephen  Smith  of  New  York, 
and  contributions  from  the  libraries  of  Drs.  Mercer,  Jacobson  and 
Eisner  of  our  own  city.  It  is  supported  and  kept  up  to  date  with 
the  advances  in  medical  publications  by  the  University  and  by  a 
contribution  from  the  Onondaga  Medical  Society  and  one  from  the 
Syracuse  Academy  of  Medicine,  the  members  of  each  of  which 
organizations  have  free  access  to  its  facilities. 

The  faculty  requires  that  not  only  in  the  college  courses,  but 
in  the  premedical  years,  every  student  must  attain  a  minimum 
grade  in  each  subject  of  75  per  cent.  Graduates  of  this  school 
secure  positions  as  internes  in  all  of  the  leading  hospitals  of  the 
country  for  which  they  compete.  The  College  has  not  added  a 
fifth  compulsory  hospital  year,  first,  because  it  does  not  consider 
that  hospital  instruction  not  controlled  by  its  own  faculty  can  be 
considered  part  of  its  own  educational  scheme,  secondly,  because 
it  believes  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  state  to  impose  such  an  obligation 
upon  candidates  for  license  to  practice  medicine,  and,  lastly,  be- 
cause it  has  been  unnecessary,  as  every  graduate  selects  an  interne- 
ship  in  a  first-class  hospital  under  the  advice  of  the  administrative 
office  except  in  the  instances  in  which  a  graduate  elects  to  pursue 
postgraduate  work  to  fit  him  better  for  a  teaching  or  a  laboratory 
position. 

A  chapter  of  the  honorary  medical  scholarship  society.  Alpha 
Omega  Alpha,  was  established  in  the  school  in  1911  and  is  known 
as  the  Gamma  of  New  York  Chapter. 


572 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


The  World  War  against  the  Central  European  powers,  now  vic- 
toriously ended,  met  an  instant  response  to  the  call  to  service  from 
our  alumni.  We  are  not  certain  that  our  records  are  complete.  We 
know,  however,  that  of  our  471  living  male  alumni  from  and  includ- 
ing the  class  of  1888  to  and  including  the  class  of  1918,  33  per  cent, 
have  been  commissioned  and  are  active  in  the  medical  service  of 
the  United  States  Army  or  Navy.  Of  these,  twenty-five  have  been 
released  from  the  teaching  staff.  This  number  of  commissioned 
medical  officers  is  made  up  of  three  colonels,  one  lieutenant-colonel, 
ten  majors,  forty-eight  captains  and  ninety-six  lieutenants,  many 
of  whom  have  won  promotion  by  the  character  of  their  service  in 
their  assigned  positions.  John  L.  Heffron. 


CHAPTER  IX 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  AND  HOSPITAL 

PRIOR  to  1875,  medical  graduates  who  desired  to  pursue  fur- 
ther special  study  had  no  facilities  in  New  York  State,  other 
than  those  afforded  by  the  hospitals  and  by  the  under- 
graduate professional  schools.  In  1875,  the  New  York  University 
Medical  College,  recognizing  the  need,  established  a  post-graduate 
course,  and  appointed  a  separate  departmental  faculty  of  seven 
professors,  who  were  permitted  to  grant  certificates  to  those  grad- 
uates who  attended  and  otherwise  qualified.  For  seven  years  the 
course  continued  in  successful  operation,  then,  however,  to  be  sud- 
denly discontinued,  by  the  secession  of  the  faculty  of  the  post- 
graduate department. 

Many  circumstances  contributed  to  determine  the  Post-Graduate 
Faculty  to  adopt  so  radical  a  decision.  Gen.  Joshua  A.  Cham- 
berlain, in  his  ''History  of  New  York  University,"  appears  to 
indicate  that  it  was  mainly  because  of  financial  limitations,  noting 
that  for  some  years  prior  to  1880-81  the  University  was  in  serious 
financial  embarrassment,  and  that,  in  February,  1881,  it  had  been 
determined  to  temporarily  suspend  the  Academic  Department  of 
the  University  at  the  close  of  that  session,  and  use  its  endowments 
to  strengthen  the  Medical  College,  which  although  at  that  time 
the  most  vigorous  of  the  University  departments  were  also  laboring 
under  financial  stress.  He  stated  that  while  the  Council  of  the 
University  discussed  the  resolved  suspension  of  the  Academic  de- 
partment, which  an  influential  minority  of  the  Council  strove  to 
prevent,  an  attempt  was  made  to  bring  a  decided  advantage  by 
the  suspension  to  the  Post-Graduate  Department  of  the  Medical 
College.  Quoting  from  Gen.  Chamberlain's  history  (Vol.  I,  p. 
162),  the  version  reads:  ''There  was  a  vigorous  movement  in  one 
quarter  to  divert  the  assets  of  the  Undergraduate  (Academic)  Col- 
lege, after  its  disestablishment,  to  the  project  of  rendering  autono- 
mous and  independent  the  Post-Graduate  Department  in  the 
School  of  Medicine. ' '   This  endeavor  was  defeated  by  the  ultimate 

573 


574 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


decision  of  the  University  Council  to  continue  the  Academic  Col- 
lege, it  having  been  recognized  that  the  planned  suspension,  and 
the  use  of  the  endowments  of  the  Academic  College  for  other  pur- 
poses, would  have  constituted  ''a  perversion  of  the  trust." 

An  interpretation  of  the  matter  is  contained  in  the  ' '  History  of 
the  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York,"  published  in  1890,  by  the  Alumni  Association.  The  inter- 
pretation rendered  by  the  Alumni  historian  was  very  like  that 
later  deduced  by  Gen.  Chamberlain  in  his  larger  work  on  the 
University ;  and  it  stated  that :  ' '  after  seven  years  of  existence,  this 
Post-Graduate  Course  was  abolished.  The  'Supplementary  Fac- 
ulty,' as  the  professors  giving  instruction  in  this  course  were 
styled  to  distinguish  them  from  the  Governing  Faculty  of  the 
College,  desired  to  be  allowed  to  grant  degrees,  instead  of  certifi- 
cates, and  they  also  desired  to  have  a  system  of  separate  fees, 
separate  lecture  halls,  etc.,  and  to  be  allowed  a  share  in  the  gen- 
eral government  of  the  college."  The  Post-Graduate^  the  official 
organ  of  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  and  Hospital 
for  many  years,  took  issue  with  the  College  historian,  saying  ed- 
itorially, in  July,  1891:  ''The  Post-Graduate  Faculty  (of  the  Uni- 
versity Medical  College)  did  desire  to  have  a  building  or  rooms  of 
its  own,  in  which  lectures  could  be  given  to  graduates  apart  from 
the  undergraduates;  they  did  desire  to  have  a  system  of  separate 
fees  for  this  instruction ;  but  they  were  willing  to  hire  a  building 
of  the  College,  and  pay  its  expenses  from  these  fees;  and  they 
never  asked  or  desired  to  grant  degrees  instead  of  certificates ;  and 
they  never  asked  to  have  a  share  in  the  general  government  of  the 
Faculty  which  taught  the  undergraduates."  It  also  drew  atten- 
tion to  "a  minor  mistake"  of  the  history  by  the  Alumni  Associa- 
tion, in  that  it  ignored  the  fact  that  "the  Post-Graduate  Faculty 
found  it  utterly  impossible  to  give  adequate  instruction  in  the 
manner  in  which  things  were  arranged — the  undergraduates  and 
graduates  together.  The  examinations  were  a  farce,  or  at  least  it 
was  desired  that  they  should  be;  and  the  Post-Graduate  Faculty, 
not  having  the  substance,  desired  to  give  up  the  name,  and  finally, 
after  giving  fair  notice  of  what  they  were  going  to  do  and  why 
they  were  going  to  do  it,  the  seven  professors  resigned."  The 
Alumni  historian,  continuing,  said  the  suggestions  of  the  Supple- 
mentary Faculty  did  not  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  Governing 
Faculty,  and  that  consequently  the  resignations  tendered  "by  a 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  575 


majority  of  the  Post-Graduate  professors"  were  accepted.  The 
seceding  professors,  he  stated,  were :  William  A.  Hammond,  James 
L.  Little,  D.  B.  St.  John  Roosa,  Frederic  R.  Sturgis,  Montrose  R. 
Pallen,  John  W.  S.  Gouley,  and  Henry  G.  Piffard.  Ten  years 
later  these  names  were  deposited  in  the  corner-stone  of  the  new 
building  erected  for  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical  School 
and  Hospital,  so  as  to  record  ''the  founders  of  the  institution," 
and  the  date  upon  which  the  new  school  was  organized.  The  paper 
places  the  date  of  organization  as  that  upon  which  they,  its  found- 
ers, resigned  from  the  University,  i.e.,  April  4,  1882. 

At  the  corner-stone  laying,  Nov.  30,  1892,  Dr.  D.  B.  St.  John 
Roosa  said:  ''In  1875  an  attempt  was  made  in  one  of  the  medical 
colleges  of  the  city,  that  connected  with  the  University,  for  these 
men  (general  practitioners  who  came  to  the  metropolis,  some  from 
far  distant  parts  of  the  country,  seeking  a  well-arranged  course 
among  the  ample  opportunities  for  clinical  study  then  available  in 
the  city,  hoping  thereby  to  benefit  during  the  very  brief  period,  in 
many  cases  only  a  few  weeks,  they  could  spare  from  their  own 
home  practices)  to  be  afforded  post-graduate  lectures.  But  these 
were  too  few;  too  few  patients  were  exhibited  at  one  time  to  be 
of  any  great  service.  The  intervals  between  the  clinics  were  so 
great  that  the  time  required  to  attend  them  was  too  long."  In 
consequence  of  the  unsatisfactory  condition  "the  Post-Graduate 
Faculty  of  that  institution  (Medical  College  of  the  University)  on 
the  4th  April,  1882,  giving  up  the  work  of  teaching  graduates  and 
undergraduates  on  the  same  benches,  decided  to  resign,  and  to 
found  what  was  to  be  termed  a  post-graduate  school. ' ' 

Of  the  need  of  establishing  a  school  where  post-graduate  study 
might  be  pursued  without  loss  of  time,  by  busy  practitioners  who 
had  little  time  to  give  to  such  study,  there  can  be  little  difference 
of  opinion.  Dr.  T.  Gaillard  Thomas,  speaking  at  the  corner-stone 
laying,  referred  to  the  subject,  saying: 

Only  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  the  science  and  art  of  medicine  were 
taught  in  this  great  metropolis  in  this  way.  On  the  first  day  of  November 
three  medical  colleges  opened  their  doors  to  a  horde  of  men,  for  the  most 
part  half -educated ;  delivered  to  them  didactic  lectures  in  their  halls,  clin- 
ical lectures  in  their  hospitals,  and  instruction  in  the  dissecting  rooms,  for 
four  months;  and  closed  their  doors  on  the  first  of  March.  This  was  gone 
through  three  times.  Then  these  students  of  medicine  scattered  themselves 
over  the  land,  and  coolly  took  into  their  hands  the  dearest  interests  known 
to  mankind.    The  incomplete  state,  as  regards  knowledge  of  their  pro- 


576 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


fession,  under  which  many  general  practitioners  then  entered  practice, 
would  of  course  come  directly  under  the  cognizance  of  the  professors  of 
the  post-graduate  course,  the  condition  being  made  evident  to  them  by  the 
limited  knowledge  of  medicine  exhibited  by  those  graduates  who  attended 
their  classes;  and  the  imperative  need  of  a  greater  effort  to  remedy  the 
deficiency  must  have  been  the  main  factor  governing  their  revolt.  How  it 
was  to  be  accomplished  was  at  the  outset  uncertain;  whether  as  an  estab- 
lishment entirely  independent  of  any  undergraduate  college,  or  by  alliance 
with  some  other  already  established  institution  of  learning  had  not  been 
decided.  But  the  professors  could  not  continue  to  act  imder  the  New  York 
University  under  conditions  which  made  their  work  ineffective,  or  insuffi- 
cient. The  Post-Graduate,  of  May,  1898,  stated  that  "in  1882,  a  serious 
effort  was  made  to  unite  the  incipient  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical 
School,  with  an  undergraduate  medical  department,  to  belong  to  Cornell 
University.  The  matter  went  so  far  that  the  Executive  Committee  of 
Cornell  endorsed  the  proposition  which  was  made  by  the  seven  professors 
who  had  resigned  from  the  Faculty  of  the  New  York  University.  President 
Andrew  D.  White  was  fully  in  favor  of  the  plan,  but  outside  influences 
were  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Trustees,  and  they  failed  to  confirm  the 
action  of  their  Executive  Committee." 

The  year  1882  saw  the  establishment  and  opening  of  two  grad- 
uate schools  of  medicine  in  New  York  City — the  New  York  Post- 
Graduate,  and  the  New  York  Polyclinic.  As  to  which  institution 
can  claim  priority  of  establishment, — is  a  point  of  importance,  see- 
ing that  to  one  of  these  institutions  belongs  the  distinction  of  hav- 
ing founded  the  first  entirely  post-graduate  school  of  medicine  to  be 
organized  in  any  country, — ^much  has  been  written  by  friends  of  one 
or  the  other  school,  opens  a  somewhat  involved  question  which  it  is 
not  the  purpose  of  the  present  chronicler  to  decide.  And  neither  in- 
stitution has  been  keenly  insistent  upon  claiming  the  honor,  each 
being  more  concerned  in  the  present  development  and  efficiency 
of  its  organization.  But  some  mention  must  be  made  here,  and 
in  the  chapter  regarding  the  Polyclinic  School  to  be  given  place 
on  other  pages  of  this  volume.  Post-Graduate,  of  November,  1890, 
issue  stated: 

There  has  been  some  misunderstanding  at  times  as  to  the  history  of  the 
organization  of  the  Post-Graduate  School.  The  facts  are  these:  There 
was  a  Post-Graduate  Faculty  connected  with  the  University  of  the  City 
for  years.  It  was  established  in  1875.  The  members  of  this  Faculty  were 
the  founders  of  the  Post-Graduate  Medical  School,  in  April,  1882,  they 
having  resigned  from  the  University  for  the  purpose,  as  stated  in  their 
letter  of  resignation,  of  establishing  such  an  institution.  They  had  found 
that  unless  the  Faculty  of  the  University  would  do  much  more  than  they 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  577 


felt  themselves  able  to  do,  for  the  purposes  of  post-graduate  study  in 
connection  with  an  undergraduate  school,  nothing  would  be  accomplished, 
and  had  given  up  the  name  of  a  distinctive  Post-Graduate  faculty  two  or 
three  years  before  they  resigned.  ...  In  1880,  attempts  were  made  to 
found  the  Polyclinic,  and  members  of  the  Post-Graduate  faculty  of  the 
University  were  asked  to  join  in  the  enterprise.  The  scheme  however 
came  to  nothing,  until  it  was  revived  in  the  summer  of  1882,  after  it  was 
well-known  that  the  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  was  organized. 

According  to  another  version,  the  organization  of  the  Polyclinic 
School  ''was  talked  over,  and  agreed  to  in  some  kind  of  way"  in 
1881,  but  no  public  announcement  was  made  until  after  the  Post- 
Graduate  School  was  fully  launched.  The  claims  of  the  Polyclinic 
to  priority  of  establishment,  and  organization,  differ,  as  might  be 
expected  from  the  points  here  given,  and  they  will  have  place  in 
the  chapter  regarding  that  institution. 

The  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  made  its  first 
public  announcement  in  July,  1882,  and  the  school  was  opened  in 
November  of  that  year,  in  the  College  of  Pharmacy  building ;  the 
inaugural  exercises  were  held  in  Chickering  Hall,  where  Bishop 
Potter,  Dr.  Marion  Sims,  and  Dr.  St.  John  Roosa  made  speeches. 
Twelve  years  later,  at  the  first  meeting  held  in  the  new  building 
of  the  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  and  Hospital,  one  of  the 
executive  officers  stated  "it  is  only  a  month  over  twelve  years  since 
the  institution  began  its  existence  in  the  College  of  Pharmacy; 
soon  £Lfterwards  it  bloomed  out  in  a  tenement  house;  and  finally 
in  1885  took  an  Old  Ladies'  Home,  in  Twentieth  Street."  Dr. 
Clarence  C.  Rice  on  the  same  occasion  stated : 

Like  most  teaching  institutions,  our  school  started  with  few  friends  and 
no  money.  Of  the  five  or  six  physicians  who  rallied  to  support  the  under- 
taking at  the  meeting  of  organization  held  on  June  15,  1882,  only  our  pres- 
ident, Dr.  Roosa,  remains  to-day  on  the  faculty.  The  first  course  of 
instruction  was  begun  at  the  old  College  of  Pharmacy,  in  East  Twenty- 
third  Street,  November  6,  1882.  There  were  six  physicians  in  attendance, 
and  one  hundred  students  matriculated  during  that  year,  1882-83.  The 
first  annual  announcement  contains  the  names  of  nine  professors,  eight 
associate  professors,  and  eight  instructors.  The  School  at  first  had  no 
hospital  of  its  own,  and  the  teachers  were  compelled  to  supply  their  clinics 
with  such  patients  as  were  able  to  walk  to  the  building,  but  the  faculty 
adhered  to  the  fundamental  principle  upon  which  the  School  was  organ- 
ized, that  all  teaching  should  be  by  actual  demonstration  of  patients,  and 
that  didactic  lecturing  should  have  no  part  in  its  methods  of  instruction. 


578 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


The  ''Announcement"  for  the  second  year,  1883-84,  bears  the 
names  of  fourteen  professors.  It  was  made  clear  that  no  professor 
benefited  pecuniarily,  their  labors  being  given  mainly  for  the 
betterment  of  the  professional  body  in  general.  ''It  has  always 
been  an  inflexible  rule  of  the  school,"  announced  the  catalogue, 
"that  no  teacher  should  be  allowed  to  give  private  instruction  to 
students  for  which  he  received  a  fee."  In  the  early  years  the 
comparatively  small  expense  was  nearly  covered  by  tuition  fees, 
and  the  deficit  was  met  by  the  unpaid  faculty.  One  hundred  and 
eighteen  students  attended  the  classes  during  the  second  year; 
for  1884-85  there  were  129. 

The  institution  gave  promise  of  permanence,  and  gathered  to 
its  teaching  staff  many  of  the  city 's  ablest  specialists  in  the  different 
branches  of  medicine.  Before  the  opening  of  the  fourth  session 
"the  school  was  obliged  to  obtain  more  commodious  quarters," 
which  they  secured  at  No.  226  East  20th  street.  In  the  new 
quarters,  the  hospital  idea,  which  had  been  in  the  minds  of  the 
founders  from  the  outset,  but  which  for  want  of  space  they  had 
hitherto  been  unable  to  carry  out,  now  became  possible.  The 
hospital  department  was  opened  May  1,  1884,  "although  it  in- 
volved the  school  in  a  very  large  financial  responsibility."  At 
first,  only  a  ward  for  surgical  diseases  of  women,  and  several 
small  rooms  for  individual  patients,  were  prepared,  the  school 
having  no  endowment  with  which  to  support  free  beds;  but  little 
by  little  the  capacity  of  the  hospital  was  increased  until  all  of  the 
building  above  the  second  floor  was  filled  with  patients. 

The  Babies'  Ward,  opened  in  November,  1885,  was  made  possi- 
ble mainly  through  the  exertions  of  Dr.  Sarah  J.  McNutt,  "who 
so  impressed  a  benevolent  woman  of  New  York  City  with  the  need 
of  such  a  hospital  that  she  donated  the  sum  of  money  necessary 
to  fit  up  a  ward  for  the  treatment  of  children."  The  ward  had 
accommodation  for  20  children  on  the  fourth  floor.  By  January 
1,  1886,  21  patients  had  been  admitted,  and  22  cases  had  to  be 
refused.  The  first  hospital  year,  132  cases  had  been  received ;  the 
average  stay  of  each  patient  had  been  four  weeks ;  and  the  receipts 
from  patients  had  been  sufficient,  with  other  donations,  to  meet  all 
fixed  charges;  63  operations  had  been  performed,  and  there  had 
been  seven  deaths. 

The  Training  School  for  Nurses  followed  the  opening  of  the 
Babies'  Ward.    It  was  organized  in  December,  1885,  with  five 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  579 


pupils.  In  February,  1886,  seven  more  pupils  from  the  Post- 
Graduate  Hospital  were  admitted.  It  then  became  necessary  to 
seek  quarters  outside  the  hospital,  and  the  dwelling  house,  No. 
163  East  36th  street,  was  rented.  The  School  was  organized  inde- 
pendently of  the  Hospital,  and  its  first  officers  were :  Mrs.  Andrew 
H.  Smith,  president;  Dr.  Sarah  J.  McNutt,  vice-president;  Mrs. 
Thomas  E.  Satterthwaite,  secretary;  Dr.  Julia  G.  McNutt,  treas- 
urer and  superintendent.  During  the  first  year,  125  women  applied 
for  training,  but  only  35  were  admitted  as  pupil-nurses.  The 
pupil-nurses,  after  a  probation  of  two  months,  were  paid  $8 
monthly  during  the  two  years  of  tuition,  which  was  by  service  in 
the  Post-Graduate  Hospital,  and  attendance  at  lectures  given  by 
fourteen  professors  of  the  Post-Graduate  School.  The  finances  of 
the  Training  School  came  largely  from  subscriptions  from  mem- 
bers, and  life-members,  eligibility  to  the  latter  class  being  by  dona- 
tion of  $100  or  more.  The  first  life-members  of  the  Nurses'  School 
were:  Mesdames  Andrew  H.  Smith,  George  Kemp,  D.  Willis  James, 
D.  B.  St.  John  Roosa,  T.  E.  Satterthwaite,  and  Drs.  Sarah  J.  Mc- 
Nutt and  Julia  G.  McNutt. 

Dr.  James  L.  Little,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  New  York  Post- 
Graduate  Medical  School,  died  April  4,  1886;  it  was  Dr.  Little 
who  conducted  the  first  clinic  of  the  Post-Graduate  School  after  its 
organization,  and  ''as  a  teacher  of  surgery  he  had  few  equals." 

The  ''Announcement"  for  1885-86  stated  that  very  few  matricu- 
lates of  the  winter  term  of  1884-85  were  in  attendance  less  than 
twelve  weeks,  while  some  attended  the  course  for  six  months.  Con- 
sequently, the  schedule  of  instruction  was  revised,  making  it  prac- 
ticable for  matriculates  to  attend  all  the  courses,  or  to  confine 
their  studies  to  very  few  departments,  or  even  to  one  branch.  The 
school  year  was  divided  into  two  distinct  but  continuous  terms — 
the  winter  term  to  open  September  12,  1885,  and  end  on  June  2, 
1886,  when  the  summer  term  would  begin.  The  fee  for  instruc- 
tion, for  a  period  of  four  weeks,  in  all  the  courses  and  clinics  of 
the  School  and  Hospital,  except  instruction  in  laboratories  and 
operative  surgery,  but  including  urinary  analysis,  was  $65 ;  or 
for  six  weeks,  $90;  twelve  weeks,  $150;  twenty-four  weeks,  $250. 
For  the  separate  courses,  the  charge  for  six  weeks'  instruction  was 
$15  to  $20.  These  were  the  prevailing  rates  for  tuition  during 
the  winter  term,  but  a  "general  ticket,"  for  all  the  clinics  and 
courses  of  the  summer  term  could  be  obtained  for  $75 ;  a  monthly 


580 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


ticket  cost  $30.  The  week-days  were  fully  occupied,  the  first 
clinic  commencing  at  9  o'clock,  followed  by  other  clinics  until  6 
p.  m.  The  report  of  officers  May  4,  1886,  recorded  that  ''the  last 
had  been  the  most  prosperous  year  yet  experienced. ' ' 

Satisfactory  as  had  been  the  development  of  the  School,  that  of 
the  Hospital  was  not  less  so.  Applications  for  admission  were 
numerous.  Over  100  patients  were  treated  during  the  first  year, 
and  in  the  second  year  in  the  General  Hospital  and  Babies' 
Ward,  184  were  treated.  During  July  and  August,  the  children 
in  the  Babies'  Ward  were  sent  to  the  Seaside  Sanitaria  at  Far 
Rockaway,  Coney  Island,  Asbury  Park,  and  also  to  the  Summer 
Home  at  Poughkeepsie. 

Early  in  1886,  Dr.  Hy.  J.  Garriques  was  appointed  Professor 
of  Obstetrics.  In  1887  Dr.  C.  C.  Rice  came  to  the  chair  of  Diseases 
of  the  Nose  and  Throat ;  and  Geo.  B.  Fowler  to  the  professorship 
of  Clinical  Medicine  and  Medical  Chemistry.  The  school  magazine 
was  issued  in  July,  1887,  under  the  name  of  the  Post -Graduate, 
and  became  a  widely-circulated  and  important  medical  journal. 
The  July,  1887,  issue  noted  that  "the  average  attendance  of  matric- 
ulates during  the  summer  session  almost  doubled  that  of  the 
previous  year;"  also  that  ''The  Nursing  Home  received  a  $1,000 
donation,  for  the  nursing  of  poor  in  their  homes. ' ' 

At  the  winter  term,  1887-88,  of  the  Medical  School,  the  enroll- 
ments were  87  per  cent,  over  the  previous  year.  Robert  Abbe 
joined  the  Faculty,  assuming  the  department  of  Clinical  Surgery ; 
A.  M.  Phelps  became  Professor  of  Orthopedic  Surgery  and  Me- 
chanical Therapeutics;  Hy.  D.  Chapin  went  to  the  department  of 
Diseases  of  Children;  A.  D.  Rockwell,  to  Electro-Therapeutics; 
and  J.  E.  Weeks  was  appointed  instructor  of  bacteriology,  regard- 
ing which  the  Post-Graduate  announced:  "The  course  in  this 
department  is  the  only  one  of  its  kind  to  be  found  in  this  city.  A 
special  laboratory  has  been  fitted  up,  and  apparatus  specially 
imported  for  it." 

The  Hospital  Report  for  1887-88  stated  that  4,834  new  patients 
liad  been  treated  in  the  dispensary,  and  320  in  the  wards,  including 
148  infants  in  the  Babies'  Ward.  The  Announcement  for 
1888-89  emphasized  the  fact  that  the  ' '  College  and  Hospital  occupy 
entirely  a  large  building,  five  stories  in  height,  with  a  frontage  of 
100  feet  on  Twentieth  street;"  and  stated  that  the  "Dispensary 
and  Hospital  furnish  more  than  20,000  patients  annually  for  the 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  581 


study  of  disease."  Dr.  L.  Bolton  Bangs  entered  the  Faculty  in 
that  year  as  Professor  of  Venereal  and  Genito-Urinary  diseases; 
Peter  A.  C.  Allan  was  appointed  Professor  of  Diseases  of  the 
Eye;  and  Professor  Winters  took  the  department  of  Diseases  of 
Children.  Drs.  Abraham  Jacobi  and  Robert  F.  Wier  also  entered 
the  Faculty  in  that  year.  A  new  Clinic  Room  was  erected  in 
1888,  for  the  accommodation  of  the  increasing  number  of  students ; 
the  new  Clinic  could  accommodate  eighty. 

The  teaching  staif  of  the  School  grew  larger  each  year;  for  the 
winter  session  of  1888-89  it  comprised  sixty-seven  professors  and 
instructors.  In  January,  1889,  the  Post-Graduate  stated  that  "the 
prosperity  of  the  School  was  such,  and  the  present  premises  so 
well  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  institution,  that  the  board  of 
directors  had  decided  to  purchase  the  property  for  $60,000,"  that 
*  *  the  increase  in  the  number  of  matriculates  is  beyond  all  expecta- 
tions, and  if  the  demand  for  post-graduate  instruction  continues 
we  shall  have  to  still  further  enlarge  our  building."  To  provide 
for  the  need,  the  property,  No.  222  East  20th  street,  adjoining  the 
Hospital  block,  was  leased  for  ten  years  almost  immediately  after 
the  purchase  of  the  buildings  then  occupied  by  the  School  and 
Hospital,  the  intention  being  to  convert  the  leased  building  into 
a  lying-in  department. 

The  "Fifth  Annual  Report,"  1888-89,  announced  that  "last 
year  was  the  busiest  of  the  Hospital 's  existence.  For  the  first  time 
the  Babies'  Ward  was  open  for  the  entire  year.  During  the  eigh- 
teen months  since  last  report,  486  house  patients  were  received,  and 
8,086  new  patients  were  treated  in  the  dispensary  department." 
All  this  clinical  material  was  available  to  the  graduate-students  of 
the  School,  and  they  also  had  opportunity  for  instruction  and 
clinical  observation  at  many  of  the  leading  city  hospitals  and 
dispensaries,  to  which  members  of  the  teaching  staif  were  at- 
tached. 

In  the  spring  of  1890,  Hon.  D.  B.  St.  John,  of  Newburg,  New 
York,  formerly  State  Senator,  presented  to  the  institution  the 
sum  of  $10,000;  "an  encouraging  sign,  when  a  layman  leaves  so 
much  to  a  medical  school, ' '  commented  the  Post-Gradiuite. 

Although  the  Hospital  department  was  a  continuous  and  heavy 
liability,  the  School  had  by  this  time  established  itself  on  a  firm 
basis ;  its  reputation  had  spread  to  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  its 
students  were  drawn  from  almost  all  the  States  of  the  Union. 


582 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


There  were  representatives  of  forty-four  States  among  the  410 
matriculates  of  the  School  in  1889-90,  and  of  the  matriculates  26 
were  females. 

Whether  the  institution  was  that  year  subjected  to  any  criti- 
cisms, in  regard  to  its  finances  and  large  corps  of  instructors,  the 
writer  does  not  know,  but  the  November,  1890,  Post-Graduate  made 
it  clear  that  the  professors  were  entirely  unselfish  in  their  service : 
''The  Post-Graduate  School  is  not  a  stock  company,  but  a  scien- 
tific institution,  devoting  its  entire  income  towards  its  expenses  and 
endowment,  with-out  paying  a  dollar  in  salary  to  the  professors/' 
The  Faculty  at  that  time  was  made  up  as  follows: 

Diseases  of  the  Mind  and  Nervous  System,  Charles  L.  Dana,  Graeme  M. 
Hammond,  A.  D.  Rockwell;  Diseases  of  Eye  and  Ear,  D.  B.  St.  John 
Roosa,  W.  Oliver  Moore,  Peter  A.  Callan,  J.  B.  Emerson;  Venereal  and 
Genito-Urinary  Diseases,  L.  Bolton  Bangs;  Diseases  of  the  Nose  and 
Throat,  Clarence  C.  Rice,  0.  B.  Dougles,  Charles  H.  Knight;  Pathology, 
Physical  Diagnosis,  Clinical  Medicine,  Therapeutics,  and  Medical  Chemis- 
try, Andrew  H.  Smith,  William  H.  Porter,  Stephen  S.  Burt,  Geo.  B. 
Fowler,  Frank  Ferguson,  Reynold  W.  Wilcox;  Surgeiy,  Lewis  S.  Pilcher, 
Seneca  D.  Powell,  A.  M.  Phelps,  Robert  Abbe,  J.  E.  Kelly,  Daniel  Lewis, 
W.  B.  DeGarmo;  Diseases  of  the  Rectum,  Charles  B.  Kelsey;  Diseases  of 
Women,  Bache  McE.  Emmet,  Horace  T.  Hanks,  Charles  Carroll  Lee,  J.  R. 
Nilsen,  Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  the  Nervous  System,  Ambrose  L. 
Ranney;  Diseases  of  Children,  Hy.  Dwight  Chapin,  J.  O'Dwyer,  J.  H. 
Ripley;  Obstetrics,  C.  A.  Von  Ramdohr,  Hy.  J.  Garrigues;  Diseases  of  the 
Skin  and  Syphilis,  L.  Duncan  Bulkley;  Hygiene,  Edward  Kirchner; 
Pharmacology,  Frederick  Bagoe. 

In  the  Hospital  report,  September  15,  1890,  it  was  noted  that 
many  matriculants  of  the  session  of  1890-91  were  ph^^sicians  who 
had  attended  the  courses  of  the  school  previously;  ''a  flattering 
compliment"  it  was  considered.  The  institution  had  now  more 
patients  than  in  any  previous  year — 570  house  patients,  and  9,064 
dispensary.  The  Hospital  deficit  was  $2,023.34,  which  liability 
was  met  from  the  funds  of  the  Medical  School. 

In  February,  1891,  the  School  Faculty  discussed  the  needs  of 
securing  new  and  more  commodious  buildings  for  the  School  and 
Hospital,  but  came  to  no  decision.  Not  long  afterwards,  however, 
the  directors  purchased  a  large  house  in  the  rear  of  the  School 
and  Hospital  buildings;  it  was  located  on  19th  street,  and  imme- 
diately after  possession  was  made  suitable  to  the  needs  of  the  Dis- 
pensary. The  Hospital  report  for  1891  also  announced  that 
''Through  the  generosity  of  Mrs.  C.  P.  Huntington,  a  Lying-in 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  583 


Service  was  established  at  No.  543  East  13th  street,  under  the 
charge  of  Prof.  Von  Ramdohr,  where  poor  women  can  be  cared 
for  in  their  homes  without  charge. ' ' 

The  imperative  need  of  larger  quarters  was  the  principal  subject 
discussed  at  the  annual  dinner  of  the  Faculty  in  1892.  The  gather- 
ing was  at  Morello's,  on  March  3,  1892.  Eighty  professors  and 
instructors  were  present;  the  discussion  led  to  definite  and  imme- 
diate action,  and  "a  large  sum  of  money  was  raised  from  the 
Faculty  for  a  new  building."  Bearing  on  the  movement,  the 
April,  1892,  number  of  the  Post -Graduate  records  that  the  directors 
of  the  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  ''have  purchased  five  lots  on 
Second  avenue,  corner  of  20th  street,  and  will  soon  build  a  capa- 
cious, beautiful,  and  fireproof  building  to  contain  the  Medical 
School,  the  Hospital,  and  the  Babies'  Ward."  The  next  number 
of  the  journal  stated~that  six  lots,  instead  of  five,  on  Second  avenue, 
had  been  purchased ;  and  that  the  work  of  demolition  of  the  old 
houses  on  the  lots  had  commenced.  The  corner-stone  of  the  new 
building  was  laid  November  30,  1892,  and,  after  surmounting  a 
difficulty  arising  from  the  discovery  of  a  running  stream  of  water 
some  feet  below  the  surface,  the  construction  work  proceeded 
steadily. 

Efforts  were  made  in  1891-92  to  obtain  from  the  State  the  same 
privileges  for  the  medical  graduate  schools  of  New  York — the 
Polyclinic  and  the  Post-Graduate — as  those  enjoyed  by  the  under- 
graduate medical  colleges,  in  regard  to  anatomical  material,  and 
in  April  of  that  year  the  State  Legislature  passed  the  "Anatomy 
Bill,"  in  favor  of  the  two  graduate  institutions.  This  followed 
action  by  the  Legislature  in  1891,  when  it  enacted  the  first  bill 
designed  to  grant  the  graduate  schools  the  same  rights  as  the 
undergraduate  medical  schools  in  the  distribution  of  dead  bodies. 
The  bill  was  strenuously  opposed  by  the  undergraduate  colleges, 
and  the  second  enactment  was  to  insure  the  position  of  the  Poly- 
clinic and  Post-Graduate  Medical  Schools.  Nevertheless,  the  Gov- 
ernor declined  to  sign  the  "Anatomy  Bill,"  ruling  it  defective  in 
construction. 

The  new  building  was  not  ready  for  occupancy  in  the  summer  of 
1893,  the  Faculty  contenting  themselves  by  stating  in  the  "An- 
nouncement" for  1893-94,  that  the  new  building  was  "well  on 
towards  completion."  The  "Announcement"  further  stated  that 
"the  building  is  the  result  of  great  self-denial  on  the  part  of  the 


584 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Faculty  of  the  School,  who  for  eleven  years  have  devoted  money 
that  should  have  been  their  salaries,  to  increase  the  building 
fund;  .  .  .  also,  they  have  in  a  very  large  proportion  made  per- 
sonal contributions  to  the  building  fund. ' ' 

The  teaching  staff  for  the  1893-94  session  consisted  of  120  pro- 
fessors and  instructors,  most  of  whom  had  been  supporters  of  the 
institution  since  its  early  days.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  School 
and  Hospital  was  most  gratifying  to  the  founders,  and  to  those 
unselfish  city  physicians  and  surgeons  who  gave  so  much  of  their 
time  without  pecuniary  advantage.  The  following  statistics  show 
the  growth  of  the  school  during  the  first  eleven  years :  Matriculates, 
first  year,  100 ;  fourth  year,  160 ;  fifth,  209 ;  sixth,  337 ;  seventh, 
415 ;  eighth,  410 ;  ninth,  469 ;  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  year  the 
attending  graduate  students  exceeded  500,  the  respective  enroll- 
ments being  502  and  527.  The  first  class,  November  6,  1882,  was 
attended  by  six  physicians;  while  in  1893-94,  120  gave  instruction 
in  the  school. 

Before  the  close  of  the  eleventh  session,  the  new  building  was 
ready  and  occupied.  Needless  to  say,  however,  the  present  mag- 
nificent structure  of  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical  School 
and  Hospital  was  not  the  building  occupied  by  the  school  in  1894, 
but  the  building  then  entered  was  one  specially  built  to  amply  meet 
their  then  requirements,  and  was  a  notable  step  forward  for  the 
school.  The  building  was  nine  stories  high,  entirely  fireproof, 
with  hospital  capacity  for  190  patients;  and  during  its  erection 
almost  every  member  of  the  faculty  contributed  a  monthly  sum 
toward  the  expense  involved.  Because  of  the  enlargement  of  the 
Hospital  facilities,  however,  and  the  heavy  expense  necessarily  en- 
tailed in  the  maintenance  of  so  large  a  number  of  beds,  the  insti- 
tution sought  outside  means  of  support.  As  regards  the  school,  it 
was  more  than  able,  out  of  fees  paid  by  students,  to  maintain 
itself. 

Much  interest  was  shown  by  the  public  in  the  new  undertaking 
of  the  School  and  Hospital ;  at  the  opening  more  than  six  thousand 
people  visited  the  building,  and  inspected  the  Babies'  Wards, 
Orthopedic  Wards,  and  all  the  departments  of  the  school.  Ad- 
dresses were  made  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Huntington,  Dr.  McKelway, 
and  by  the  president,  Dr.  Roosa,  and  the  secretary,  Dr.  C.  C.  Rice. 
In  the  opinion  of  some,  the  building  exterior  was  ' '  one  of  the  hand- 
somest facades  in  the  city,"  and  the  interior  ''reminded  one  of 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  585 


the  work  of  some  of  the  best  French  architects."  Dr.  Rice  said: 
*  *  The  Post-Graduate  School  has  at  last  attained  the  position  which 
its  founders  and  devoted  supporters  have  hoped  and  v^^orked  for 
during  the  past  twelve  years.  The  history  of  the  origin  and  devel- 
opment of  the  medical  school  is  simply  a  record  of  the  wisdom,  the 
earnest  effort  and  the  indefatigable  zeal  of  a  number  of  physicians 
of  this  city,  who  have  been  willing  to  give  to  it  the  best  years  of 
their  lives.  The  success  which  has  attended  it  again  demonstrates 
the  tremendously  effective  working  power  of  a  body  of  men  filled 
with  enthusiasm  and  laboring  unselfishly  and  increasingly  for  a 
common  purpose."  The  first  clinic  held  in  the  new  building  was 
on  April  23,  1894 ;  although  work  on  the  amphitheatre  had  not  then 
been  finished.   The  formal  opening  was  on  May  8th,  same  year. 

As  to  the  quality  of  the  instruction  given,  it  was  of  the  highest 
class.  In  June,  1894,  the  more  important  changes  were  the  pro- 
motion from  instructorships  to  professorships  of :  Dr.  Francis 
Valk,  Diseases  of  the  Eye ;  Dr.  B.  Farquhar  Curtis,  Surgery ;  Dr. 
Francis  Foerster,  Diseases  of  Women.  In  November,  Dr.  Ramon 
Guiteras  became  Professor  in  Operative  Surgery,  as  well  as  in  the 
department  of  Anatomy.  In  1895,  Dr.  Andrew  Hermance  Smith 
became  vice-president;  James  L.  Skillin,  secretary;  and  Bache 
McE.  Emmet,  treasurer, — these  succeeding  George  Henry  Fox, 
Clarence  C.  Rice,  and  L.  Bolton  Bangs,  respectively.  Charles  B. 
Kelsey  was  appointed  secretary  of  faculty. 

Dr.  D.  B.  St.  John  Roosa,  about  that  time,  made  reference  to 
the  difficulty  originally  experienced  in  obtaining  a  charter  for  the 
School  from  the  State.  The  first  application  made  to  the  Regents  of 
theTFniversity  of  the  State  of  New  York  by  the  projectors  of  the 
New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  was  vetoed,  under  advise- 
ment of  the  then  Attorney-General,  on  the  extraordinary  ground 
that  the  phrase  ''other  institutions  of  learning"  did  not  compre- 
hend a  post-graduate  medical  school,  since  none  existed  when  the 
law  was  passed.  Finally,  however,  a  special  law  was  enacted  by 
the  State  Legislature  to  incorporate  the  School.  Dr.  Roosa 's 
comment  was,  ''Governor  Hill  and  the  Legislature  were,  however, 
more  kind  (than  the  Attorney-General)  and  this  institution  has 
a  charter  from  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York. ' ' 

At  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  term,  the  announcement  was  made 
(June,  1895)  that  "during  the  past  year  the  classes  were  the  larg- 
est in  the  history  of  the  school  (550  having  attended).  The  classes 


586 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


attending  the  different  clinics  averaged  between  seventy  and  one 
hundred  students  at  one  time,  but  owing  to  the  facilities  afforded 
in  the  new  building,  classes  were  able  to  be  subdivided  so  as  to  give 
almost  individual  instruction."  With  the  opening  of  the  larger 
Hospital  building,  the  facilities  for  the  development  of  the  Nurses ' 
Training  School  became  very  much  better,  and  the  1895  report 
says  that  it  had  developed  ''very  satisfactorily,"  thirty-two  grad- 
uating at  the  Commencement,  May  23,  1895.  The  first  graduating 
class  was  in  1888,  when  twelve  received  diplomas. 

An  annual  reception  held  at  the  Hospital  on  January  5,  1897, 
was  the  occasion  of  an  announcement  of  particular  importance  to 
the  Nurses'  Training  School.  Dr.  Bache  Emmet  referred  to  the 
approaching  discontinuance  of  the  nursing  institution  conducted 
"by  an  entirely  independent  corporation"  under  the  name  of  the 
Hospital,  and  which  training  school  had  supplied  the  hospital  with 
nurses.  He  declared  that  the  directors  felt  called  upon  to  estab- 
lish a  similar  training  school  directly  under  their  own  control, 
which  would  necessitate  a  considerable  outlay;  he  estimated  the 
expense  of  conducting  a  training  school  adequate  for  the  Hospital 
at  about  $18,000  per  annum.  In  March,  1897,  it  was  announced 
that  the  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  and  Hospital  had  "secured 
a  large  apartment  house,  at  the  corner  of  19th  street  and  Second 
avenue,  for  its  training  school,  which  was  then  about  to  be  estab- 
lished." And  in  August,  1897,  the  Post-Gradiuite  stated  that 
"the  Post-Graduate  Hospital  has  at  last  undertaken  the  entire 
responsibility  for  the  Training  School  for  Nurses."  The  Septem- 
ber number  of  the  same  journal  went  further:  "The  Training 
School  has  been  hitherto  conducted  by  benevolent  ladies  in  the  city, 
who,  at  great  pecuniary  loss,  have  carried  on  and  supplied  us  with 
nurses  for  a  number  of  years.  During  the  last  year,  Mrs.  Ada 
Van  Zandt  was  responsible  for  the  institution,  the  board  of  man- 
agers having  given  it  up.  So  that  nurses  studying  during  the  last 
two  years  should  receive  their  diplomas  and  badges,  a  commence- 
ment was  held  on  the  8th  June,  in  the  reading  room  of  the  Post- 
Graduate  College,  and  diplomas  were  presented  by  the  president, 
in  the  name  of  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  and 
Hospital.   Sixteen  nurses  were  graduated. ' ' 

In  1897,  Dr.  Seneca  D.  Powell  was  appointed  secretary  of  the 
Faculty,  to  succeed  Dr.  Charles  B.  Kelsey.  During  the  1896-97 
session,  542  physicians  attended  the  courses. 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  587 


The  city  newspapers  during  1897  gave  space  to  an  agitation 
which  sought  to  influence  the  city  administration  to  discontinue 
the  annual  grant  to  the  Post-Graduate  Hospital.  The  attempt 
was,  however,  unsuccessful.  Regarding  it,  the  Post-Graduate  of 
January,  1898,  after  announcing  that  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment  had  voted  the  usual  grants  to  the  so-called  private 
hospitals,  dispensaries,  and  other  charities  in  the  city,  stated: 
'  *  The  municipality  can  by  no  means  do  all  the  charitable  work  in 
hospitals,  asylums,  dispensaries,  and  so  forth,  that  is  justly  re- 
quired of  it,  but  it  can  supplement  that  which  is  chiefly  done 
through  private  gifts.  The  Post-Graduate  Hospital  receives  thir- 
ty-eight cents  a  day  for  each  pauper  baby  that  it  treats,  and 
$25,000  a  year  for  its  general  purposes.  The  professors  and  in- 
structors add  $30,000  a  year  by  giving  all  the  fees  paid  for  instruc- 
tion, except  a  few  hundred  dollars  paid  as  salaries  for  laboratory 
work  and  operative  courses." 

At  the  thirteenth  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Post-Graduate 
Hospital,  January  8,  1898,  the  acting-treasurer,  George  N.  Miller, 
appealed  for  $150,000  to  endow  the  institution.  He  stated  that 
$31,543  had  been  received  for  instruction  during  the  previous  year, 
but  that  had  it  not  been  for  the  city  grant  of  $25,000,  the  institu- 
tion would  have  fallen  very  seriously  behind,  the  care  of  nurses, 
to  mention  only  one  instance,  costing  the  Hospital  $15,000.  He 
estimated  the  asset  of  the  corporation,  in  the  building,  at  $450,000, 
against  which  stood  a  floating  debt  of  $70,000,  and  a  mortgage  of 
$230,000,  which  he  wished  to  see  reduced  to  $150,000. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  year  1898  was  a  trying  one  for  the 
Medical  School;  the  Spanish- American  War  considerably  affected 
the  attendance  of  students.  Dr.  G.  N.  Miller,  reporting  on  Jan- 
uary 5,  1899,  stated:  ''During  May,  June,  July  and  August,  our 
revenue  fell  off  sadly.  In  September  and  October  it  was  our  priv- 
ilege to  care  for  many  of  our  sick  soldiers.  Notwithstanding 
these  drains  we  have  done  well  financially,  and  our  debt  this  year 
has  been  materially  reduced."  There  was,  however,  cause  for 
congratulation  that  the  institution  in  its  sixteen  years  of  existence 
matriculated  over  six  thousand  doctors,  and  had  been  able  to  gather, 
chiefly  among  themselves  or  by  their  labor,  more  than  $600,000 
that  had  been  spent  on  school  and  hospital  buildings.  Prof.  A.  M. 
Phelps  said  that  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  ^Medical  School  ' '  was 
the  first  post-graduate  school  in  the  world  to  be  founded." 


588 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


The  year  1899  was  one  of  note.  In  April  it  was  announced  that 
Mr.  H.  C.  Fahnestock  had  given  $100,000  to  be  spent  in  building 
a  new  Nurses'  Home,  to  be  known  as  ''The  Margaret  Fahnestock 
Training  School  for  Nurses. ' '  It  was  decided  to  erect  a  six-story 
building,  of  fire-proof  construction,  and  affording  accommodation 
for  sixty-five  nurses;  within  a  year  the  inauguration  took  place, 
the  building  having  been  erected  on  19th  street,  directly  opposite 
the  hospital. 

Dr.  William  H.  Hammond,  Surgeon-General,  U.  S.  A.,  during 
the  Civil  War,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  New  York  Post- 
Graduate  Medical  School,  died  January  5,  1900,  aged  72  years. 
The  statement  was  made  that  ''Dr.  Hammond  may  be  said  to  be 
the  originator  of  the  Post-Graduate  School. ' ' 

Notwithstanding  the  Spanish- American  War,  the  enrollment  of 
students  was  far  in  advance  of  the  other  six  post-graduate  schools 
of  the  United  States;  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  enrolled  524 
students  that  year,  the  New  York  Polyclinic  School  coming  second 
with  293.  Six  hundred  and  nine  graduates  attended  the  session 
of  1900,  the  amount  received  in  fees  being  $31,113.26 ;  of  this,  only 
$2,259  was  expended  in  payments  to  the  teaching  staff,  being  to 
a  few  special  professors  for  services  in  the  operating  rooms  and 
laboratory.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  institution  as  a  whole  showed 
a  deficit  of  $15,214.78  on  the  year's  working.  Next  year  brought 
many  substantial  donations;  two  anon3rmous  gifts  were  of  the 
amount  of  $15,000;  $10,096.45  came  to  the  Hospital  from  Miss 
Grace  Scoville ;  $5,000  in  memory  of  Arthur  E.  White ;  $7,500  in 
memory  of  James  W.  Quintard;  $5,462.80  from  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Philip  B.  Niles;  and  Mrs.  H.  N.  L.  Sherman,  of  Lawrence,  Long 
Island,  gave  $25,000  to  endow  five  beds  for  the  care  of  patients 
suffering  from  nervous  diseases.  In  1902  treatment  was  given 
in  the  Hospital  to  1,894  patients,  and  in  the  Dispensary  to  18,252. 
The  Medical  School  had  an  enrollment  of  653.  The  Hospital 
at  that  time  had  204  beds,  but  its  capacity  was  taxed  to  the  ut- 
most. By  the  gift  to  the  Hospital  in  1903,  of  $7,500  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Walter  G.  LadH,  the  Charles  L.  Dana  Bed  was  endowed,  with 
the  stipulation  that  Prof.  Dana,  and  after  him  his  heirs,  shall  have 
perpetual  right  to  name  the  occupant  of  the  bed. 

In  1903  a  new  feature  was  inaugurated;  by  it,  physicians  who 
had  attended  the  clinics  and  demonstrations  of  the  School  for 
six  consecutive  months  could  come  for  examination  in  any  depart- 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  589 


ment  or  departments  they  chose,  and  if  successful  would  be  en- 
titled to  a  certificate  of  proficiency  in  the  departments  taken. 

In  June,  1904,  the  Association  of  the  Elks  entered  into  an 
agreement  with  the  Post-Graduate  Hospital,  by  means  of  which 
two  beds  in  the  institution  were  set  apart  for  members  of  that 
order,  $15,000  being  placed  by  the  Elks  for  that  purpose.  The 
action  is  worthy  of  note,  inasmuch  as  other  city  hospitals  offered 
to  supply  the  service  at  a  much  lower  figure,  but  in  explanation  it 
was  stated  at  the  time  that  ''the  Elks  believe  that  the  advantages 
offered  by  the  Post-Graduate,  in  the  variety  of  cases  cared  for  by 
the  attending  physicians  and  surgeons  who  are  specialists,  we?e 
greater  than  those  of  the  other  hospitals.'' 

The  debt  under  which  the  institution  labored  was  hindering  the 
extension  of  the  Medical  School,  and  in  1904-05  a  determined 
effort  was  made  to  lift  the  debt  altogether  from  the  institution. 
The  Post-Graduate  for  June,  1905,  stated  there  had  been  pending 
an  offer  of  $100,000  for  the  Medical  School,  in  case  another  $100,- 
000  were  raised ;  that  the  amount  given  or  promised  by  the  Faculty 
by  Thanksgiving  Day  makes  the  total  already  raised  about 
$50,000.  The  New  York  Evening  Post  said :  ''By  Thanksgiving, 
the  trustees  hope  to  have  in  hand  the  entire  $100,000,  which  the 
institution  is  raising.  Another  $100,000  is  promised,  and  this,  with 
the  legacy  from  the  Miss  Margarette  A.  Jones  estate  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  rid  the  School  of  debt.  The  Jones  bequest  is  estimated  at 
about  $200,000,  St.  Luke's  and  Presbj^erian  receiving  similar 
amounts."  The  Jones  bequest  did  not,  however,  come  to  the 
Post-Graduate  until  1907,  and  the  total  amount  then  apportioned 
to  the  Post-Graduate  was  $142,000.    This  sum  established  the 

David  Jones  Fund,"  which  maintains  nineteen  beds  in  the  Hos- 
pital. In  memory  of  Miss  Jones,  the  directors  placed  an  appro- 
priate memorial  in  a  prominent  position  in  the  Hospital. 

That  the  standing  of  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  School ' '  as  the 
leading  post-graduate  school  of  America"  was  universally  recog- 
nized was  inferred  from  an  invitation  cabled,  in  1906,  to  President 
Roosa  and  Professor  Carl  Beck,  to  attend  the  opening  by  the 
German  Emperor  of  the  Berlin  Post-Graduate  School  of  Medicine. 
About  two  years  later,  Professor  R.  Kutner,  at  the  eighth  annual 
meeting,  held  in  Berlin,  of  the  Central  Commission  for  Post-Grad- 
uate Medical  Education  in  Prussia,  paid  a  great  compliment  to 
the  New  York  Post-Graduate  School,  by  requesting  all  present  ' '  to 


590 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


rise  from  their  seats  and  pay  homage  to  the  memory  of  this  de- 
serving man,  Dr.  Daniel  Bennett  St.  John  Roosa,  then  recently 
deceased,  who  had  been  the  most  active  of  the  founders  of  the 
New  York  pioneer  school,  and  its  president  since  its  establish- 
ment." 

Dr.  Roosa  died  March  8,  1908.  Had  he  lived  a  few  more  months, 
he  would  have  realized  the  principal  endeavor  of  his  last  quarter- 
century  of  work ;  he  would  then  have  known  that  the  permanence 
of  the  School  and  Hospital  was  assured  in  the  intimation  then  con- 
veyed to  the  trustees  of  the  Post-Graduate  Hospital  that  the  insti- 
tution would  benefit  to  the  extent  of  about  $2,000,000  by  the  will 
of  Frederick  Cooper  Hewitt,  of  Owego,  New  York,  who  was  a 
classmate  of  Dr.  Roosa  at  Yale. 

Dr.  Roosa  was  responsible  for  the  passing  of  much  medical 
legislation;  in  legislative  halls  he  was  variously  known  as  ''The 
Fighting  Doctor,"  and  as  ''The  Eloquent  Doctor." 

The  Hewitt  bequest,  "a  most  fitting  memorial  to  Dr.  Roosa," 
was  the  subject  of  litigation ;  the  will  was  contested,  but  eventually 
was  sustained,  and  m  1909  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical 
School  and  Hospital  came  into  possession  of  about  $1,600,000.  In 
that  year  also  came  donations  of  $10,000,  $25,000,  and  $25,000. 
Even  these  large  amounts  were,  however,  insufficient  to  completely 
meet  the  requirements  as  planned  by  the  executive  heads,  and 
faculty.  The  Post-Graduate  stated:  "It  appears  that  the  Post- 
Graduate  Medical  School  and  Hospital  is  now  to  have  the  greater 
part  of  the  Hewitt  gift  of  $2,000,000  for  immediate  use.  The  gift 
will  be  of  great  value  in  developing  the  ideas  of  our  educational 
institution  up  to  the  power  allowed  by  that  endowment,  but  it 
will  attract  the  attention  of  other  public-spirited  citizens  who  are 
in  doubt  about  institutions  for  endowment.  An  expression  of  con- 
fidence of  Mr.  Hewitt  to  the  extent  of  $2,000,000  means  a  great 
deal  to  these  people,  and  we  look  for  a  number  of  similar  endow- 
ments until  we  have  the  $10,000,000  required  for  placing  our  insti- 
tution upon  an  ideal  basis  of  usefulness  to  the  public.  That  amount 
of  endowment  will  be  forthcoming  when  the  results  of  the  steps 
made  with  the  Hewitt  endowment  are  appreciated  generally." 

In  1909-10  the  Announcement  stated,  "Since  last  report,  more 
doctors  (673)  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  Post-Graduate, 
have  attended,  the  summer  classes  being  unusually  well  attended." 
It  also  said  that  a  portion  of  the  Hewitt  legacy  was  used  in  build- 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  591 


ing  additions  to  the  Hospital,  Dispensary,  and  Nurses'  Home,  which 
when  completed  will  double  the  equipment,  and  that  when,  within 
a  year,  we  open  our  Annexes,  we  shall  have  approximately  400 
beds  for  patients,  and  accommodation  for  140  nurses.  It  was  also 
decided  to  quadruple  in  size  the  laboratories  of  the  School. 

For  the  addition  to  the  Home  for  the  Nurses  of  the  Margaret 
Fahnestock  Training  School,  Mr.  H.  C.  Fahnestock  in  1909  con- 
tributed $100,000.  The  Hospital  Annex  was  completed  and  occu- 
pied in  the  autumn  of  1910,  in  which  year  came  a  bequest  of  $5,000 
from  Catherine  Phelps  Stokes,  and  Colonel  Robert  M.  Thompson 
and  Mr.  J.  H.  McFadden  donated  $15,000  "to  be  devoted  to  an 
investigation  into  the  prevalence  of  pellagra  in  the  South,  the 
scientific  investigation  to  be  undertaken  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Tropical  Medicine  Department  of  the  New  York  Post-Graduate 
School." 

As  to  the  standing  of  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical 
School  among  similar  institutions  of  the  United  States:  Prof.  R. 
Kutner,  of  Berlin,  in  an  address  on  ''Post-Graduate  Medical  In- 
struction, its  present  status  and  future  objects,"  delivered  at  the 
foundation  of  the  International  Commission  for  Medical  Post- 
Graduate  Education,  Budapest,  August  30,  1909,  reviewed  the 
Post-Graduate  institutions  of  America,  and  stated  that  "in  a  gen- 
eral way,  the  development  of  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  School 
was  the  prototype  of  all  other  schools.  He  listed  the  schools  as 
follows : 

1.  The  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  and  Hospital;  founded 
1882;  218  beds;  about  572  matriculates  annually. 

2.  New  York  Polyclinic  Medical  School  and  Hospital;  105  beds;  300 
matriculates;  founded  1882. 

3.  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  and  Hospital  of  Chicago;  founded 
1899;  100  beds;  300  matriculates. 

4.  Chicago  Polyclinic;  estabhshed  1899;  110  beds;  290  matriculates. 

5.  Philadelphia  Polyclinic  and  College  for  Graduates;  150  beds;  170 
matriculates. 

6.  New  Orleans  Polyclinic;  established  1888;  175  matriculates. 

7.  Illinois  Post-Graduate  Medical  School;  founded  1907;  95  beds;  65 
matriculates. 

8.  New  York  School  of  Ophthalmology  and  Otology;  organized  1881; 
147  beds;  47  matriculates. 

9.  San  Francisco  Polyclinic  and  Post-Graduate  School  of  Medicine; 
established  1889;  30  matriculates. 

10.    Chicago  Eye,  Ear,  and  Throat  School;  forty  matriculates. 


592 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Dr.  George  N.  Miller  had  succeeded  Dr.  Roosa  in  the  presidency 
of  the  Medical  School  and  Hospital,  but  in  1911  resigned,  and  Dr. 
James  F.  McKernon  became  president,  with  Dr.  Edward  Quin- 
tard,  first  vice-president,  and  Dr.  Henry  D.  Chap  in,  second.  Dur- 
ing 1911-12,  790  physicians  attended  the  courses. 

In  1913,  a  memorial  tablet  in  appreciation  of  the  labors  of  Dr. 
Roosa,  was  placed  in  a  prominent  place  within  the  Hospital  build- 
ing; at  the  unveiling,  Dr.  Henry  Dwight  Chapin  delivered  an 
appropriate  address,  emphasizing  the  value  to  the  School  of  Dr. 
Roosa 's  long  association  with  its  administration  and  faculty. 

The  School  Report  for  1914-15  session  stated  that  ''At  present 
the  number  of  matriculates  is  larger  than  usual.  This  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  many  who  under  normal  conditions  would  have  gone 
abroad  for  instruction  are  kept  here  by  the  European  war,  and 
find  that  they  can  get  from  us  what  they  want  quite  as  well  as  in 
Europe."  A  substantial  incoming  to  the  institution  during  that 
year  was  $48,000  received  from  the  estate  of  John  Torrance  Van- 
nick. 

Regarding  the  development  of  the  School  and  Hospital,  the 
report  for  1914-15  stated,  ''the  modest  inauguration  of  the  Post- 
Graduate  idea  began  with  introductory  exercises  held  at  Chicker- 
ing  Hall,  New  York,  on  November  4,  1882,  and  reached  its  present 
status  in  the  dedication  of  the  latest  addition  to  the  hospital  group 
of  buildings  on  January  11,  1913.  The  Hospital  now  has  bed 
capacity  for  over  400 ;  9,000  persons  were  admitted  as  bed  patients 
during  the  year;  30,000  examinations  were  made  in  the  labora- 
tories; and  approximately  1,000  doctors  attended  the  school.  In 
addition,  209,541  visits  were  made  by  patients  to  the  out-patient 
department,  and  over  200,000  prescriptions  were  filled  at  cost." 

The  Summary  of  Receipts  and  Disbursements  for  the  year  end- 
ing September  30,  1915,  shows  that  the  disbursements  of  the  insti- 
tution, in  all  its  departments,  amounted  to  $428,657.70,  and  its 
receipts  $374,756.65.  Matriculates'  fees  amounted  to  $57,367.24. 
Physicians  to  the  number  of  17,784  had  taken  graduate  courses 
up  to  and  including  the  session  of  1915-16.  The  faculty  that  year 
was  composed  of  183  professors  and  instructors,  and  each  year 
brought  some  expansion  in  the  many  departments  of  medicine 
embraced  in  the  plan  of  instruction.  In  general,  the  fees  for 
instruction  are  approximately  the  same  as  when  the  School  was 
first  established,  but  the  rapid  development  of  medical  science 


POST-GRADUATE  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  593 


has  made  it  necessary  to  institute  very  many  special  operative 
and  non-operative  courses,  for  which  additional  fees  are  charged. 

The  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  has  unquestion- 
ably filled  an  important  place  in  the  history  of  medicine  in  New 
York.  As  stated  in  a  recent  Post-Graduate  announcement,  "the 
day  of  the  hajphazard  association  of  clinical  facts  is  passed. 
Modem  medical  teaching  must  be  scientific,  and  the  old  fallacious 
idea  of  scientific  versus  practical  work  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  The 
physician  represents  higher  ideals  than  heretofore,  and  his  work 
demands  more  and  more  scientific  training.  .  .  .  That  the  New 
York  Post-Graduate  School  has  met  the  demand  is  attested  by  the 
increasing  number  of  students  that  avail  themselves  of  its  teach- 
ing.'' 


CHAPTER  X 


NEW  YORK  POLYCLINIC  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  AND 
HOSPITAL 

THE  New  York  Polyclinic  Medical  Schooland  the  New  York 
Post-Graduate  Medical  School,  the  first  two  graduate  schools 
of  medicine  to  be  established,  entirely  independent  of  under- 
graduate institutions,  were  both  inaugurated  in  1882. 

While  there  has  been  disagreement  between  the  two  schools,  as 
to  priority  of  establishment,  it  is  interesting  to  read  the  version  of 
the  Polyclinic  as  made  known  by  its  founder,  John  Allan  Wyeth, 
M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  in  his  ''With  Sabre  and  Scalpel,"  an  autobiograph- 
ical work  of  much  merit  published  in  1914  by  Harper  &  Brothers, 
New  York.  He  wrote :  ' '  The  founding  of  the  New  York  Polyclinic 
Medical  School  and  Hospital  in  1881,  which  marked  the  introduc- 
tion of  post-graduate  medical  instruction  in  America  was,  if  not 
the  chief,  at  least  an  important  factor  in  the  great  movement  which, 
starting  at  that  period,  has  revolutionized  and  carried  to  a  degree 
approaching  perfection  the  teaching  and  practice  of  medicine  and 
surgery  in  the  United  States.  The  idea  of  establishing  a  post-grad- 
uate course  of  study  came  to  my  mind  as  a  result  of  my  own 
necessities. ' '  He  details  the  deficiencies  of  professional  instruction 
in  medical  colleges  at  the  time  he  graduated  and  entered  practice 
(1869),  and  confesses  to  a  conviction  forced  upon  him  after  a 
practice  of  six  weeks  that  he  ''needed  a  thorough  clinical  and 
laboratory  training,  and  could  not  conscientiously  practice  without 
it."  Continuing,  he  stated:  "I  came  to  New  York  City  in  1872. 
To  my  surprise  and  disappointment,  there  was  no  opportunity  for 
special  instruction  or  training  of  a  graduate,  except  by  attending 
the  lectures  in  common  with  undergraduates."  Seeking  oppor- 
tunities for  research,  he  joined  the  teaching  staff  of  the  Bellevue 
Hospital  Medical  College  in  1873.  Regarding  his  first  decade  of 
professional  endeavor.  Dr.  Wyeth  wrote:  "I  had  never  lost  sight 
of  the  conviction  brought  home  to  me  by  my  unfortunate  expe- 
rience that  the  most  perfect  theoretical  education  could  not  prop- 

594 


POLYCLINIC  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  595 


erly  prepare  one  for  the  practice  of  medicine  and  surgery,  unless 
supplemented  by  a  thorough  practical  training  .  .  .  and  in  1877 
I  undertook  to  organize  a  school  in  which  such  training  could  be 
secured."  His  plan  met  with  the  approval  of  many  eminent 
medical  men,  among  them  Drs.  J.  Marion  Sims,  Willard  Parker, 
Frank  H.  Hamilton  and  Abraham  Jacobi,  who,  however,  became 
convinced  that  an  endowment  sufficient  to  meet  current  expenses 
would  be  the  only  method  likely  to  meet  success  in  the  aim  to 
establish  a  four-year  course,  the  last  to  be  a  post-graduate  year. 
Dr.  Wyeth,  continuing,  wrote:  "I  tried  without  success  to  raise 
the  amount  deemed  necessary,  and  finally,  in  the  early  winter 
of  1881,  I  abandoned  the  undergraduate  feature  of  the  plan,  and 
took  up  actively  the  organization  of  the  Polyclinic,  as  a  post-grad- 
uate school.  The  organization  was  begun  in  the  early  winter  of 
1881,  and  the  school  was  opened  in  East  34th  street,  in  1882. 

In  The  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  February 
5,  1916  (vol.  Ixvi,  p.  447),  is  ''A  Contribution  to  the  History  of 
Medical  Education  in  the  United  States,"  by  Dr.  Wyeth.  This 
took  the  form  of  a  letter  addressed  '^To  the  Editor,"  and  enclosing 
fac-simile  of  letter  Dr.  Wyeth  wrote  to  Dr.  J.  Marion  Sims,  then 
in  Paris,  on  March  28,  1878,  the  letter  substantially  corroborating 
the  above-quoted  version  by  the  Polyclinic  founder,  as  to  the 
movement  which  led  to  the  organization  of  that  school.  The  * '  Con- 
tribution" also  referred  to  a  statement  made  in  the  Boston  Tra/n- 
script  of  November  17,  1914:  "Nor  can  there  be  any  question  that 
the  establishment  of  the  Polyclinic  was  the  chief  stimulus  to  the 
advance  of  medical  thought  and  science  in  the  United  States;  a 
stimulus  that  was  felt  not  only  throughout  this  country,  in  all  of 
whose  important  cities  one  or  more  postgraduate  medical  schools 
have  been  founded,  but  across  the  sea  as  well,  where  this  system  has 
been  adopted  in  London  and  other  cities." 

In  an  address  delivered  by  Dr.  Wyeth  at  the  Polyclinic  Hospital, 
to  members  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  on  the  fifteenth  anniversary 
of  the  institution,  he  said:  ''In  the  winter  of  1880-81,  I  invited 
together  half  a  dozen  friends  in  the  medical  profession  to  discuss 
the  propriety  of  establishing  a  post-graduate  school  in  this  city. 
The  suggestion  met  with  hearty  approval,  and  by  1882  we  had  a 
corps  large  enough  to  justify  organization." 

Elsewhere  in  this  work  is  detailed  the  version  of  the  founders  of 
the  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  and  Hospital  as  to 


596 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


priority  of  establishment.  That  the  executive  heads  of  the  two 
schools  did  not  pursue  the  point  so  keenly  as  did  some  of  their 
supporters,  may  be  inferred  by  knowledge  of  the  following.  It 
has  been  stated  that  at  one  time,  many  years  after  the  establish- 
ment of  both  schools,  Dr.  D.  B.  St.  John  Roosa,  one  of  the  founders 
and  for  almost  twenty -five  years  president  of  the  New  York  Post- 
Graduate  School,  suggested,  through  an  intermediary  who  was 
one  of  the  executive  officers  of  that  institution,  ' '  that  the  Polyclinic 
and  Post-Graduate  medical  schools  be  merged  in  one,"  the  con- 
solidated school  to  take  the  name  of  the  Polyclinic.  Whether  that 
suggestion  by  Dr.  Roosa  can  be  interpreted  to  signify  that  he,  who 
may  be  assumed  to  have  known  the  full  facts  regarding  the  early 
movements  of  the  projectors  of  both  schools,  recognized  the  right 
of  the  Polyclinic  institution  to  the  place  of  honor  is  a  moot  point, 
and  beyond  the  province  of  this  present  recording.  It  would  seem 
from  the  following  that  the  claim  of  the  founder  of  the  Polyclinic 
was  fully  substantiated: 

(From  The  Medical  Record  of  Nov.  29,  1890,  pp.  617-18.) 

The  Question  of  Priority — The  Polyclinic  rests  its  case. 

Sir:  In  your  issue  of  Nov.  15th,  Dr.  D.  B.  St.  John  Roosa  writes: 
"Seven  Members  of  the  Faculty  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 
York  resigned  their  positions  at  that  institution  on  April  4th,  1882,  for 
the  purpose  of  founding  a  Post-Graduate  Medical  School." 

We  the  undersigned,  during  the  winter  of  1881-82,  organized  and  ac- 
cepted professorships  in  the  New  York  Polyclinic  and  opened  this  school 
in  November,  1882.  From  the  incipiency  of  the  organization  it  was  the 
expressed  intention  of  its  founders  to  conduct  it  as  a  clinical  school,  for 
practitioners  of  medicine  and  surgery.  (Signed: — John  A.  Wyeth,  Virgil 
P.  Gibney,  E.  Gruening,  W.  Gill  Wylie,  Landon  Carter  Gray,  A.  R.  Robin- 
son.) Were  they  Hving,  the  names  of  Dr.  Louis  Elsberg  and  Dr.  Richard 
Brandeis  would  also  be  subscribed. 

The  organization  of  the  New  York  Polyclinic  and  its  plans  of  study, 
as  carried  into  practice,  were  effected  uninfluenced  by  any  similar  effort 
by  any  other  body  of  men,  and  while  the  gentlemen  who  later  on  "resigned 
their  positions  to  organize  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  School"  were 
teaching  in  an  undergraduate  College.  The  Polyclinic  by  the  above  un- 
impeachable evidence  was  the  pioneer  Post-Graduate  Medical  School  in 
the  United  States. 

On  this  evidence  it  rests  its  case. 

Yours  truly, 

(signed)    John  A.  Wteth,  M.D. 


The  medical  school  and  dispensary  of  the  New  York  Polyclinic 
entered  upon  its  work  on  October  23,  1882,  and  the  following  con- 


POLYCLINIC  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 


597 


stituted  the  faculty  and  assignments  at  date  of  organization:  De- 
partment of  Dermatology,  Drs.  E.  Robinson,  E.  B.  Bronson ;  Gyne- 
cology, Drs.  W.  Gill  Wylie,  Paul  F.  Munde ;  Diseases  of  Children, 
Dr.  John  H.  Ripley,  assisted  by  Dr.  L.  Emmet  Holt,  who  later 
succeeded  him;  Laryngology,  Drs.  Richard  Brandeis  and  Louis 
Elsberg ;  Ophthalmology,  Drs.  David  Webster  and  Emil  Gruening ; 
Medicine,  Drs.  D.  James,  R.  Leaming,  E.  Darwin  Hudson ;  Neurol- 
ogy, Dr.  Landon  Carter  Gray,  assisted  by  Dr.  J.  Allan  Starr; 
Surgery,  Dr.  J.  A.  Wyeth  and  Dr.  A.  G.  Gerster;  Orthopedic 
Surgery,  Dr.  V.  P.  Gibney. 

The  first  session  was  held  in  the  basement  and  ground  floor  of  Nos. 
214-216  East  34th  street.  Dr.  Wyeth  once  referred  to  the  building 
as  ' '  the  old  bam, ' '  further  stating  ' '  we  were  gratified  to  open  with 
the  respectable  number  of  eighteen  students,  which  during  the 
first  year  increased  to  182. ' '  The  organizers  had,  on  the  day  imme- 
diately preceding  that  of  opening,  become  a  corporate  body  for 
(Art.  II  of  constitution)  :  "the  establishment,  support  and  man- 
agement of  an  institution  for  the  purpose  of  affording  a  more 
thorough  scientific  and  practical  course  of  study  in  all  the  depart- 
ments of  medical  science  to  physicians  who  have  received  diplomas 
from  other  institutions  entitling  them  to  be  licensed  as  practition- 
ers, and  for  the  support,  management  and  maintenance  of  a  hos- 
pital and  dispensary  for  the  gratuitous  care  and  treatment  of 
indigent  persons  who  require  medical  attendance. ' '  The  basement 
and  the  ground  floor  of  ''the  old  barn"  were  leased  ''for  a  term 
of  years,"  but  these  quarters  soon  became  too  restricted,  and  the 
floor  above  was  rented  for  three  years,  at  the  end  of  the  second 
session. 

The  "Report  of  the  Free  Dispensary  of  the  New  York  Poly- 
clinic" (October  23,  1882,  to  October  31,  1884)  stated  that  15,960 
patients  had  received  gratuitous  treatment  during  the  period,  at 
a  cost  of  $19,376.17,  ' '  every  dollar  of  which,  with  the  exception  of 
$502  received  from  the  excise  fund,  was  contributed  by  the  board 
of  directors,"  as  follows:  Charles  Coudert,  Esq.,  president;  Wil- 
liam T.  Wardswell,  vice-president;  John  A.  Wyeth,  M.  D.,  secre- 
tary; V.  P.  Gibney,  M.  D.,  treasurer;  Profs.  Fordyce  Barker,  T. 
Gaillard  Thomas,  F.  H.  Hamilton,  Dr.  T.  A.  Emmet,  Hon.  E.  P. 
Wheeler,  Hon.  B.  F.  Tracy,  H.  Dormitzer,  H.  H.  Rogers,  A.  F. 
Wilmarth,  W.  A.  Butler,  G.  B.  Grinnell,  and  J.  Hammerslaugh, 
members  of  the  board. 


598 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


The  Faculty  for  the  second  session  consisted  of:  James  R. 
Learning,  president;  J.  A.  Wyeth,  secretary;  E.  Darwin  Hudson, 
Jr.,  J.  H.  Ripley,  Louis  Elsberg,  L.  C.  Gray,  R.  C.  Brandeis,  A.  R. 
Robinson,  E.  B.  Bronson,  A.  G.  Gerster,  P.  F.  Munde,  W.  Gill 
Wylie,  James  B.  Hunter,  Emil  Gruening,  David  Webster,  V.  P. 
Gibney,  W.  R.  Gillette,  George  B.  Fowler,  with  thirty-eight  assist- 
ants. The  second  annual  announcement  stated  the  circumstances 
to  be  ''peculiarly  gratifying"  to  the  Faculty.  It  declared  that 
* '  inaugurating  a  new  departure  in  medical  education  in  the  United 
States,  in  the  establishment  of  a  clinical  school  of  medicine  and 
surgery  for  the  benefit  of  practitioners  who  might  desire  a  more 
thorough  practical  training  in  general  or  special  medicine,  its 
founders,  while  believing  that  time  would  popularize  the  move- 
ment, were  scarcely  prepared  for  its  prompt  recognition  and  imme- 
diate success."  During  the  first  session  over  150  physicians  at- 
tended, ' '  and  at  several  periods  during  the  year  the  limit  of  same 
of  the  sections  was  reached,  so  that  many  applicants  were  refused 
admission."  The  Polyclinic  at  that  time  treated  monthly  about 
800  patients.  The  school  fees  varied  from  $10  to  $35  per  depart- 
ment, tickets  covering  an  instructional  period  of  six  weeks;  or  a 
''general"  ticket,  covering  all  the  departments  for  one  year,  could 
be  obtained  for  $300,  or  for  six  months  $200.  The  second  school 
year  opened  in  preliminary  session  September  17,  1883,  and  in 
regular  session  October  1,  1883,  continuing  until  June  26,  1884, 
when  a  summer  session  began. 

Dr.  Thomas  A.  McBride  became  Professor  of  Diseases  of  the 
Mind  and  Nervous  System,  in  the  third  session,  in  association  with 
Dr.  L.  C.  Gray.  The  "Announcement"  stated:  "The  third  year 
opens  full  of  the  promise  of  a  greater  success,"  and  averred  that 
^'the  success  of  the  Polyclinic  has  been,  in  great  part,  due  to  the 
introduction  by  its  founders,  of  .  .  .  clinical  demonstration  to 
limited  classes,"  the  policy  followed  being  to  refuse  admission 
w^hen  the  limit  of  the  sections  had  been  reached.  The  number  of 
tickets  issued  in  1883-84  to  the  various  departments  was  "three- 
fold in  excess  of  the  session  of  1882-83."  Thus  encouraged,  the 
Faculty  determined  to  enlarge  the  scope  of  its  work,  and  pur- 
chased the  "extensive  property"  then  in  part  occupied  by  the 
Polyclinic  School  and  Dispensary.  Another  record  states  that  ' '  at 
the  end  of  the  third  session,  the  directors  entered  into  negotiations 
to  lease  the  entire  building,  the  arrangement  made  being  of  such 


POLYCLINIC  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  599 


a  nature  that  the  School  could  hold  the  building  indefinitely  upon 
the  same  rental  basis."  This  was  a  precautionary  measure,  "be- 
cause we  felt  we  would  suffer  greatly  if  at  any  time  we  were  com- 
pelled on  short  notice  to  change  our  habitation."  The  record 
continues,  ''It  soon  became  apparent  that  in  order  to  reach  the 
degree  of  success  to  which  we  had  aspired,  as  teachers  in  the  first 
clinical  institution  in  the  land,  we  would  be  compelled  to  main- 
tain a  hospital  to  furnish  us  with  capital  material.  Steps  were 
immediately  taken  to  carry  this  into  effect." 

In  1885-86,  223  physicians  were  matriculates  during  the  third 
session.  In  the  fourth  session,  the  department  of  diseases  of  the 
throat  and  nose,  previously  in  charge  of  Profs.  Louis  Elsberg  and 
R.  C.  Brandeis,  came  under  Dr.  D.  B.  Delavan;  and  in  the  depart- 
ment of  diseases  of  the  mind  and  nervous  system,  Prof.  J.  Allan 
Starr  became  head  in  place  of  Dr.  T.  A.  McBride.  That  session 
saw  the  inauguration  of  a  laboratory  of  pathological  histology  and 
state  medicine.  Two  hundred  and  forty  physicians  were  matricu- 
lates in  the  school  year,  1885-86. 

In  the  next  session,  Dr.  James  R.  Leaming,  president  of  the 
Faculty,  was  appointed  Emeritus  Professor  of  Diseases  of  the 
Chest,  and  Physical  Diagnosis;  Dr.  D.  B.  Delavan  became  Profes- 
sor of  Laryngology;  and  Dr.  Walter  B.  Gillette,  Professor  of  Ob- 
stetrics, resigned.  The  enrollment  was  301.  In  1887-88,  Drs. 
Joseph  W.  Gleitman,  R.  C.  M.  Page  and  Oren  D.  Pomeroy  became 
professors,  and  Profs.  E.  Darwin  Hudson,  Jr.,  and  G.  B.  Fowler 
went  out.  Three  hundred  and  thirty-nine  physicians  attended  the 
classes.  The  "Announcement"  for  1888-89  is  notable  a«  the  first 
upon  which  the  words  ' '  and  Hospital ' '  appear  as  part  of  the  name 
of  the  institution.  Drs.  H.  N.  Heineman  and  Charles  Stedman  Bull 
became  professors  of  the  Polyclinic  in  that  session.  The  School 
registered  383  matriculates. 

The  Faculty  was  enlarged  by  seven  additional  professors  in 
1889-90,  Drs.  B.  Sachs,  T.  R.  Pooley,  L.  Emmet  Holt,  August  Sie- 
bert,  H.  Marion  Sims,  W.  F.  Fluhrer,  and  Henry  C.  Coe  receiving 
assignments.  The  teaching  staff  consisted  of  twenty-four  profes- 
sors, twenty-three  lecturers,  seventeen  instructors,  and  thirty-five 
clinical  assistants.  The  "Announcement"  pointed  out  that  the 
New  York  Polyclinic,  "organized  in  1880-81,  and  opened  in  1882, 
was  the  first  school  of  graduates  in  medicine  in  America  independ- 
ent of  an  undergraduate  college, ' '  and  stated  that ' '  The  Polyclinic 


600 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Hospital  occupies  the  upper  floors  of  the  building,  214-216,  and 
the  entire  building  218  East  34th  street,"  explaining  that  ''it  is 
divided  into  six  wards  and  fifteen  private  rooms,"  and  in  addition 
that  ''the  Polyclinic  sustains  its  own  dispensary  in  its  own  build- 
ing, where,  in  the  presence  of  matriculants,  from  12,000  to  15,000 
patients  are  treated  annually."  There  were  422  physicians  en- 
rolled as  students  in  1889-90,  and  462  the  next  year. 

In  1891-92,  Drs.  Edward  A.  Ayres  and  Robert  H.  M.  Dawbarn 
came  into  the  Faculty,  with  473  students.  Dr.  Brooks  H.  Wells 
became  Adjunct  Professor  of  Gynecology  in  1892,  and  in  1892-93 
it  was  stated  that  more  than  3,100  graduates  in  medicine  had 
attended  the  courses  of  the  New  York  Polyclinic  Medical  School. 

There  were  many  important  changes  in  1893-94.  Dr.  J.  A. 
Wyeth,  in  January,  1893,  was  elected  president;  Dr.  L.  Emmet 
Holt  becoming  secretary  of  the  Faculty.  Drs.  Ed.  B.  Dench, 
Florian  Krug,  Andrew  J.  McCosh,  Isaac  Adler,  Christian  A. 
Herter,  and  Morris  J.  Asch  were  appointed  to  professorships  in 
1893,  and  J.  Riddle  Goffe,  W.  W.  Van  Arsdale,  James  P.  Tuttle, 
J.  Herbert  Claiborne,  William  B.  Pritchard,  Brooks  H.  Wells,  and 
William  R.  Pryor  became  adjunct  professors.  In  January,  1894, 
Dr.  Dench  resigned,  to  take  appointment  at  the  Bellevue  Hospital 
Medical  College;  he  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  J.  E.  Sheppard,  of 
Brooklyn. 

The  School  journal,  January,  1893,  stated  that  the  growth  of 
the  institution  had  been  such  as  *'to  make  a  change  from  present 
quarters  an  absolute  necessity,"  and  that  "the  Faculty  is  taking 
steps  to  procure  a  proper  site  for  a  new  building. ' '  Apparently,  the 
plan  was  to  make  extensive  alterations  to  the  building  then  occu- 
pied, for  the  Polyclinic  Journal  in  August,  1893,  stated  that  "the 
alterations  were  nearing  completion." 

The  School  "Announcement"  in  the  summer  of  1893  made  ref- 
erence to  the  organization  of  a  special  hospital  for  the  care  of 
women  in  confinement,  which  had  been  established  the  previous 
year,  making  possible  systematic  bedside  instruction  in  abdominal 
palpation,  pelvimetry,  etc.,  while  deliveries  involving  the  various 
operations  took  place  in  the  presence  of  the  entire  class. 

The  August,  1893,  number  of  the  School  journal  stated  in  an 
editorial  that  "it  is  particularly  gratifying  to  note  the  increasing 
number  of  physicians  every  year  who  are  taking  three  and  six 
months'  tickets."    It  explained,  however,  that  many  physicians 


POLYCLINIC  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  601 


were  only  able  to  spare  six  weeks  from  their  practice,  and  ex- 
pressed a  wish  that  ''it  were  true  that  no  one  would  spend  less 
than  three  months  at  the  Polyclinic." 

The  Polyclinic  Hospital  Keport  for  1894  mentioned  the  Moth- 
ers' and  Babies'  Hospital,  which  had  been  incorporated  April  28, 
1893.  It  stated,  'Hhe  work  of  the  Mothers'  and  Babies'  Hospital 
started  in  1882,  at  that  time  consisted  of  giving  medical  attendance 
to  poor  women  in  their  homes  during  confinement.  The  district 
within  its  sphere  of  operations  wels  chiefly  the  East  Side,  from 
Third  avenue  to  the  East  river,  and  from  14th  to  59th  street,  a  re- 
gion comparatively  unattended  even  by  midwives,  notwithstanding 
that  it  was  crowded  with  people  scarcely  able  to  purchase  food." 
During  a  decade  of  busy  work  in  the  Mothers'  and  Babies'  Hos- 
pital, over  2,500  women  were  attended,  with  only  three  deaths,  or 
one-tenth  of  one  per  cent.  The  Hospital,  which  was  a  branch  of 
the  New  York  Polyclinic,  was  located  at  No.  218  East  34th  street, 
adjoining  the  Polyclinic  building.  In  1893  it  contained  forty 
beds,  and  a  few  rooms  for  private  patients.  The  number  of  women 
received  during  1893-94  was  112,  all  of  whom  were  successfully 
delivered. 

The  School  ''Announcement,"  for  1894-95,  showed  that  Dr.  J. 
Riddle  Goffe  had  been  appointed  professor,  and  that  Drs.  S.  M. 
Payne,  R.  C.  Myles,  Dillon  Brown,  Floyd  M.  Crandall,  and  W.  R. 
Townsend  had  become  adjunct  professors.  The  School  journal 
stated  that  the  fall  session  opens  with  the  most  flattering  promises ; 
great  improvements  have  been  made ;  the  entire  building  has  been 
altered,  cleaned,  and  repainted ;  an  elevator  has  been  put  in,  run 
by  electricity,  and  the  entire  building  well  supplied  with  electric 
lights;  accommodations  have  been  enlarged,  and  the  upper  floor 
of  its  main  building  is  reserved  for  private  patients ;  in  the  Moth- 
ers'  and  Babies'  Hospital  are  two  large  airy  wards  and  five  pri- 
vate rooms  devoted  to  obstetric  patients;  the  top  floor  is  reserved 
for  a  general  female  ward. 

The  session  of  1895-96  brought  the  promotion  to  professorships 
of  Drs.  Robert  C.  Myles,  W.  R.  Townsend,  William  R.  Pryor,  and 
Wilbur  B.  Marple,  and  to  adjunct  professorships,  Drs.  H.  E.  Staf- 
ford, Francis  J.  Quinlan,  Herman  F.  Nordeman,  Royal  Whitman, 
Frederick  H.  Dillingham,  and  Robert  H.  Wylie.  The  annual  re- 
port of  the  Mothers'  and  Babies'  Hospital  for  1895  was  "of  inter- 
est to  students  at  the  Polyclinic,  inasmuch  as  the  extensive  obstet- 


602 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


rical  service  of  the  hospital  is  now  a  part  of  the  regular  course. 
Dr.  E.  A.  Ayers,  with  a  desire  to  widen  the  scope  of  the  obstetrical 
department  to  the  fullest  de^ee,  having  generously  thrown  open 
the  resident  interne  service  to  members  of  the  Polyclinic  classes." 
It  announced  that  during  the  year  reviewed,  412  confinements 
had  occurred,  with  no  maternal  deaths. 

The  Polyclinic  Hospital,  on  November  1,  1895,  opened  its  doors 
to  non-paying  patients;  sixty  free  beds  were  then  available.  In 
that  year  also  a  Training  School  for  Nurses  was  organized  in  con- 
nection with  the  Hospital. 

In  an  address  before  the  medical  staff  by  Dr.  J.  A.  Wyeth,  on 
the  fifteenth  anniversary  of  the  New  York  Polyclinic  Medical 
School  and  Hospital,  he  stated  that  more  than  6,000  practitioners 
had  matriculated  up  to  that  time,  and  that  more  than  half  a  million 
cases  had  been  treated,  practically  all  free  of  charge.  The  money 
received  in  fees  from  students  and  from  the  small  number  of  pay- 
ing patients  had  been  expended,  "every  dollar  of  it,  and  more," 
in  the  maintenance  of  poor  patients ;  no  teacher  or  member  of  the 
medical  staff  had  ever  received  one  dollar  in  pay  for  the  work  done 
in  the  institution:  and  Dr.  Wyeth  further  explained  that  ''when 
the  receipts  have  been  insufficient,  the  members  of  the  Faculty  have 
provided  the  deficiency,  amounting  in  all  to  several  thousand  dol- 
lars." His  address  had  chiefly  in  view  the  raising  of  $6,658.77 
to  cancel  the  deficit  upon  the  Hospital  account  for  the  previous 
year,  and  to  secure  subscriptions  to  building  and  endowment  funds, 
it  being  the  intention  to  erect  a  new  building  when  a  sufficient 
amount  had  been  secured.  He  favored  the  selection  of  as  cheap 
a  piece  of  ground  as  possible  within  a  block  or  two  of  their  then 
location,  reasoning  that  cheap  land  would  insure  more  room,  and 
more  money  to  put  into  the  building. 

That  the  School  was  giving  a  high  and  much  appreciated  stand- 
ard of  instruction  was  indicated  in  the  June,  1896,  issue  of  The 
New  York  Polyclinic.  An  editorial  drew  attention  to  a  letter  from 
a  physician-matriculate  who  had  taken  the  course  at  the  School 
seven  separate  times,  notwithstanding  which  the  student  was  ' '  look- 
ing forward  to  being  with  you  again  for  at  least  two  months  during 
the  session  of  1896-97."  Changes  in  faculty  that  year  included 
appointment  to  professorships  of  Drs.  Geo.  R.  Fowler,  W.  W.  Van 
Valsah,  and  W.  W.  Van  Arsdale.    Dr.  H.  Marion  Sims,  who  had 


POLYCLINIC  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 


603 


been  a  member  of  the  Faculty  since  1889,  resigned  the  chair  of 
gynecology. 

An  outstanding  event  was  an  outbreak  of  fire  in  the  Hospital 
on  Christmas  Day,  1896.  The  fire  started  in  a  factory  in  the  rear  of 
the  Polyclinic  buildings,  and  the  last  of  the  sixty-five  patients  in 
the  Polyclinic  Hospital  had  just  been  removed  when  the  building 
itself  caught  fire.  The  fire  reached  the  roof  and  top  floor  of  the 
hospital,  but  extended  no  further.  The  removal  of  the  patients 
was  effected  ''without  injury  to  the  most  delicate,"  and  many 
hotels,  charitable  institutions,  and  hospitals  in  the  vicinity  ex- 
tended hospitality  to  the  patients.  Arrangements  were  made  for 
temporary  quarters  in  35th  street  near  the  Polyclinic,  where  the 
regular  routine  of  clinics  was  resumed  at  once.  By  the  middle  of 
January  a  portion  of  the  Hospital  had  been  put  in  order,  and 
lectures  and  clinics  were  again  resumed  in  the  Polyclinic  building. 

The  trustees  and  medical  faculty  having  decided  to  rebuild  upon 
the  site  of  the  old  building  partially  destroyed,  plans  were  per- 
fected, and  contract  placed,  under  guarantee  that  certain  of  the 
lecture  rooms  would  be  ready  in  April,  1897,  and  the  entire  build- 
ing finished  by  September,  1897.  The  massive  ornamental  iron 
fagade  was  not  damaged  by  the  fire,  and  was  retained,  but  the 
remainder  of  the  old  edifice  was  torn  down,  and  a  building  was 
erected  one  story  higher  than  was  the  old.  This  was  opened  in 
September,  1897.  Its  capacity  was  seventy-nine  beds,  and  the 
interior  arrangements  were  much  better  than  in  the  old  building; 
the  wards  being  brought  directly  in  communication  with  the  amphi- 
theatres and  lecture  rooms.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  fire  proved  to 
be  rather  an  advantage  than  otherwise.  Said  the  New  York  Poly- 
clinic, ''the  fire  proved  truly  a  blessing  in  disguise.  The  Polyclinic 
offers  far  better  advantages  now  than  at  any  period  in  its  history. ' ' 

The  catalogue  for  1899-1900  showed  that  W.  R.  Townsend  was 
then  secretary  of  the  Faculty,  to  which  body  Drs.  J.  P.  Tuttle, 
Charles  H.  Chetwood,  and  F.  Whiting  were  appointed  as  profes- 
sors, and  Drs.  J.  A.  Bodine,  L.  J.  Ladinski,  and  Alfred  Weiner,  as 
adjunct  professors.  It  was  then  stated  that  since  the  opening  of 
the  school  in  1882,  over  6,500  physicians  had  attended  its  classes. 
There  were  416  matriculates  in  1900-1901,  and  in  1902  Professors 
Paul  F.  Munde,  Oren  D.  Pomeroy,  and  David  Webster,  were  ad- 
vanced to  emeritus  rank,  and  Drs.  R.  0.  Born,  Morris  Manges,  and 
F.  J.  Quinlan  became  professors.   In  the  following  year.  Professor 


604 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


W.  Gill  Wylie  became  Emeritus  Professor  of  Gynecology ;  Walter 
Eyres  Lambert,  B.  H.  Wells,  R.  H.  Wylie,  F.  M.  Jeffries,  M.  D. 
Lederman,  Albert  Kohn,  and  J.  H.  Burtenshaw  became  professors. 
In  1903-04,  Edward  A.  Ayers  became  Emeritus  Professor  of 
Obstetrics;  C.  G.  Kerley  was  appointed  Professor  of  Pediatrics, 
and  Drs.  W.  V.  V.  Hayes,  Adolph  Baron,  Alex.  Lyle,  and  E.  L. 
Keyes  were  made  adjuncts.  Charles  H.  Chetwood  was  elected  sec- 
retary in  1904;  Joseph  W.  Gleitsmann,  George  R.  Fowler,  H.  New- 
ton Heinemann  became  emeritus  professors ;  W.  Van  Valzah  Hayes 
was  promoted  to  professorial  rank,  and  Drs.  Joseph  Brown  Cooke 
and  James  J.  Walsh  became  adjunct  professors.  In  1905,  Prof. 
E.  B.  Bronson  became  Emeritus  Professor,  W.  B.  Pritchard,  pro- 
fessor, and  J.  J.  MacPhee,  adjunct.  In  1907,  W.  W.  Van  Valzah 
and  Professor  Isaac  Adler  were  advanced  to  emeritus  class.  Drs. 
Charles  G.  Child,  Jr.,  Jerome  Hilton  Waterman,  W.  S.  Bainbridge, 
A.  S.  Morrow,  and  Henry  Heiman  were  appointed  to  adjunct  pro- 
fessorships. 

The  Hospital  service  continued  to  develop ;  in  1907  the  capacity 
was  105  beds;  there  were  six  wards,  including  a  medical  ward; 
one  private  room  holding  five  patients,  for  accommodation  in  which 
room  $15  weekly  was  asked;  there  were  two  rooms  designed  to 
hold  three  patients,  who  would  pay  $18  per  week ;  one  room  for  two 
patients  at  $20  weekly,  or  for  one  patient  at  $40  weekly ;  and  there 
were  nine  private  rooms  for  one  patient,  at  $25  per  week,  and  two 
rooms  at  $30.  The  financial  sheet  for  1907  showed  the  receipts 
from  the  pay-patient  department  in  1907  exceeded  those  of  1906 
by  more  than  $2,500.  The  School  receipts,  however,  were  less  than 
in  1906  by  $1,500.  The  year's  expenses  were  $19,322.35,  and  the 
income  $23,037.  At  the  annual  meeting,  the  executive  committee 
recommended  that  ''the  position  of  clinical  or  junior  professor 
be  inaugurated,  for  the  purpose  of  rewarding  those  who  have 
worked  long  in  the  interests  of  the  School  who  hold  individual 
clinics,"  the  Faculty  believing  them  to  be  entitled  to  special  dis- 
tinction. It  was  not  proposed  to  make  the  clinical  professors  mem- 
bers of  the  voting  body,  the  plan  providing  that  the  then  senior 
professors  would  continue  as  heads  of  departments.  In  conse- 
quence, the  next  ''Announcement"  contained  the  names  of  four 
clinical  professors:  L.  J.  Ladinski,  Alexander  Lyle,  E.  L.  Keyes, 
Jr.,  and  W.  S.  Bainbridge.    In  that  year  also,  T.  B.  Berens,  and 


POLYCLINIC  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  605 


Royal  Whitman  became  professors,  and  F.  E.  Beal,  adjunct  pro- 
fessor. 

The  New  York  Polyclinic  Journal,  May,  1909,  referred  to  the 
strenuous  efforts  made  in  recent  years  to  improve  the  financial 
position  of  the  School  and  Hospital ;  it  stated :  "It  was  a  memora- 
ble occasion  to  the  Polyclinic  three  years  ago,  when  we  were  able 
to  announce  the  liquidation  of  a  large  portion  of  our  outstanding 
indebtedness,  and,  a  year  later,  of  the  complete  disposal  of  our 
entire  mortgage,  accomplished  by  the  joint  efforts  of  the  Faculty 
and  Staff,  together  with  the  generous  assistance  of  friends.  We 
are  at  present  enjoying  a  still  greater  elation  by  the  acquisition  of 
a  magnificent  benefaction  of  $100,000,  and  this  last  substantial 
donation  should  prove  an  important  aid  toward  the  erection  of  an 
entire  new  institution  upon  a  larger  and  better  site." 

Two  years  later  the  Trustees,  Medical  Staff,  and  Woman 's  Auxil- 
iary Board  expressed  their  '^gratitude  for  financial  aid  received 
from  many  friends  of  the  Polyclinic;  and  especially  for  the 
generous  donations  from  William  P.  Clyde,  and  Mrs.  Helen  Hart- 
ley Jenkins,  whose  timely  aid  has  assured  the  early  completion  of 
the  new  building  for  the  School,  Hospital,  and  Dispensary  service. '  * 

In  1910-11  Prof.  R.  H.  M.  Dawbarn,  and  R.  0.  Bam  became 
emeritus  professors;  W.  S.  Bainbridge,  Alex.  Lyle,  A.  B.  Duel, 
E.  S.  Thomson,  P.  D.  Kerrison,  and  John  R.  Shannon  were  ap- 
pointed professors;  F.  M.  Jeffries,  C.  G.  Child,  Jr.,  F.  E.  Beal, 
Henry  Heiman,  J.  J.  MacPhee,  F.  H.  Dillingham,  M.  D.  Leder- 
man,  and  L.  G.  Cole  were  advanced  to  clinical  professorships; 
J.  M.  Lynch,  E.  L.  Kellogg,  J.  H.  Abraham,  E.  M.  Foote,  J.  A. 
Robertson,  W.  B.  Hoag,  J.  C.  Taylor,  J.  I.  Edgerton,  George  P. 
Shears,  M.  Packard,  D.  E.  Dougherty,  W.  Van  P.  Garretson,  Earle 
Connor,  D.  A.  Sinclair,  John  C.  Lynch,  F.  C.  Keller,  J.  R.  Page, 
J.  H.  Guntzer,  and  D.  J.  McDonald  to  adjunct  professorships.  In 
the  next  session.  Prof.  James  P.  Tuttle  became  emeritus;  J.  C. 
Taylor  and  J.  M.  Lynch  became  clinical  professors;  and  A.  E. 
Reich,  0.  S.  Wightman,  A.  M.  Anderson,  O.  E.  Prellwitz,  and 
Simon  Strauss,  adjunct  professors. 

On  May  1,  1912,  the  new  building  erected  for  the  School  and 
Hospital  upon  the  plot  extending  from  341  to  351  West  50th  street, 
was  formally  opened,  Dr.  J.  A.  Wyeth  conducting  the  first  clinic 
therein.    In  the  new  building,  the  hospital  department  had  much 


606 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


more  commodious  quarters,  and  was  able  to  accommodate  300 
patients. 

An  interesting  and  pleasing  event  in  the  history  of  the  institu- 
tion was  the  public  recognition  expressed  by  all  departments  of  the 
New  York  Polyclinic,  on  May  1,  1914,  of  the  invaluable  services 
rendered  to  the  institution  by  its  founder,  Dr.  John  Allan  Wyeth. 
On  that  day,  the  second  anniversary  of  the  opening  of  the  new 
building,  all  connected  with  the  institution  gathered  in  the  main 
corridor  to  witness  the  unveiling  of  a  statue,  inscribed  "John 
Allan  Wyeth,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Surgeon,  Author,  Teacher,  in  recog- 
nition of  his  pre-eminence  as  foremost  founder  and  surgeon-in- 
chief  of  this  institution,  this  testimonial  is  dedicated  by  the  Poly- 
clinic Medical  Staff,  MCMXIV. ' '  The  portrait-bust  was  presented 
on  behalf  of  the  medical  staff,  by  Dr.  Charles  H.  Chetwood,  who 
stated  ''The  name  of  Dr.  John  Allan  Wyeth,  surgeon,  author, 
and  teacher,  has  long  been  inscribed  in  this  niche  of  the  Hall  of 
Fame,  so  unquestionably  its  foremost  founder,  so  unqualifiedly  its 
most  untiring  worker."  An  address  of  appreciation  was  also  de- 
livered by  Dr.  J.  A.  Bodine,  and  that  of  acceptance  by  Dr.  D. 
Bryson  Delavan.  The  ceremony  constituted  a  dignified  and  grace- 
ful tribute  to  the  unselfish  endeavors  of  an  earnest  and  able  mem- 
ber of  the  medical  profession  to  advance  the  standard  of  medical 
science. 

The  session  of  1914-15  brought  more  faculty  changes:  Profes- 
sors Arped  G.  Gerster  and  R.  H.  Wylie  were  advanced  to  the 
emeritus;  L.  J.  Ladinski,  F.  M.  Jeffries,  Charles  G.  Child,  Henry 
Heiman,  J.  M.  Lynch,  J.  C.  Taylor,  Ed.  L.  Kellogg,  and  Geo.  P. 
Shears  were  appointed  to  chairs;  A.  Reich,  F.  Kennedy,  Earle 
Connor,  J.  H.  Abraham,  A.  Bassler,  M.  Packard,  A.  J.  Quimby, 
0.  S.  Wightman,  A.  Sturmdorf,  J.  P.  Grant,  A.  S.  Morrow,  E.  M. 
Foote,  D.  S.  Dougherty,  J.  R.  Page,  J.  A.  Robertson,  F.  C.  Keller, 
and  D.  A.  Sinclair  were  promoted  to  clinical  professorships;  and 
T.  H.  Curtin,  W.  L.  McFarland,  D.  W.  Tovey,  T.  H.  Morgan,  P.  M. 
Grausman,  F.  C.  Yoemans,  P.  H.  Ernst,  H.  Holcomb,  W.  Sharpe, 
J.  H.  Bainton,  H.  D.  Meeker,  J.  F.  White,  C.  R.  Hancock,  J.  W. 
Draper,  Alfred  Braun,  Henry  G.  Bugbee,  Robert  E.  Brennan 
became  adjunct  professors. 

In  1915-16  the  staff  changes  were:  August  Seibert  and  Brooks 
H.  Wells,  to  emeritus;  Earle  Connor,  to  professorship;  W.  Van 
P.  Garretson,  F.  M.  Stephens,  J.  E.  MacKenty,  J.  W.  Draper,  E.  S. 


POLYCLINIC  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  607 


Bishop,  H.  Fox,  Thos.  H.  Morgan,  and  W.  B.  Hoag,  to  clinical 
professorships;  and  A.  T.  Fisher,  D.  E.  Hoag,  J.  Van  D.  Young, 
L.  R.  Van  Roeder,  and  A.  J.  Walseheid,  to  adjunct  professor- 
ships. 

The  foregoing  record  is  not  presumed  to  be  a  complete  detailing 
of  the  principal  events  in  the  history  of  the  New  York  Polyclinic 
Medical  School  and  Hospital;  in  fact,  the  compiler  recognizes  it 
to  be  very  incomplete,  because  of  the  destruction  of  official  records 
in  the  fire  of  Christmas  Day,  1896. 

At  present  the  New  York  Polyclinic  Medical  School  and  Hos- 
pital constitutes  one  of  the  two  leading  graduate  schools  of  medi- 
cine in  America ;  during  the  thirty-five  years  of  its  operation,  more 
than  20,000  students  have  attended  its  clinics,  the  matriculates 
coming  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  from 
Canada,  Mexico,  the  South  American  states,  West  Indies,  Aus- 
tralia, China,  and  Japan.  The  plan  of  instruction  follows  the 
purpose  of  the  Faculty  to  render  the  instruction  so  practical  that 
students  may  apply  in  actual  practice  what  they  have  learned 
while  attending  the  School.  The  essentials  of  diagnosis  and  the 
modern  methods  of  treatment  and  of  surgical  procedure  are  dem- 
onstrated by  means  of  lectures  and  clinics,  supplemented  by  oper- 
ative courses  on  the  cadaver.  Of  general  clinics,  its  departments 
include:  Clinical  Medicine,  including  its  special  branches,  phys- 
ical diagnosis,  diseases  of  the  digestive  system,  and  diseases  of 
children ;  Diseases  of  the  Eye,  Ear,  Nose,  and  Throat ;  Diseases  of 
the  Mind  and  Nervous  System;  Surgery,  general,  orthopedic,  rec- 
tal, genito-urinary,  and  neurolgical ;  Diseases  of  the  Skin ;  Diseases 
of  Women;  Obstetrics.  The  special  courses  embrace  Physical 
Diagnosis;  Examination  of  Stomach  Contents;  Diseases  of  the 
Eye  (including  refraction).  Ear,  Nose,  and  Throat;  Diseases  of 
the  Rectum ;  Genito-Urinary  Surgery,  including  cystocopic  work 
and  ureteral  catheterism ;  Diseases  of  Women,  operative,  and  non- 
operative;  Anaesthesia,  including  gas,  ether  and  vapor  methods; 
Clinical  Microscopy  and  Urinary  Analysis;  Practical  Histology 
and  Pathology;  Bacteriology;  Roentgenology,  and  Special  Annual 
Course  in  Major  and  Minor  Surgery  and  Gynecology.  The  corps 
of  instructors  attached  to  the  various  departments  include:  De- 
partment of  Surgery:  five  professors,  6  clinical  professors,  8  ad- 
junct professors,  4  lecturers,  13  instructors,  and  13  clinical  assist- 
ants.   Gynecology:  seven  professors,  3  clinical  professors,  6  ad- 


608 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


junct  professors,  6  lecturers,  8  instructors,  13  clinical  assistants. 
Orthopedic  Surgery:  one  professor,  and  four  assistants.  Genito- 
urinary Surgery:  three  professors,  and  seven  assistants.  Rectal 
Surgery:  two  professors,  and  four  assistants.  Neurological  Sur- 
gery: one  clinical  professor,  and  two  assistants.  Clinical  Medi- 
cine: two  professors,  4  clinical  professors,  1  adjunct  professor, 
5  lecturers,  6  instructors,  11  clinical  assistants.  Diseases  of  the 
Digestive  System:  three  professors,  2  adjuncts,  2  lecturers,  one 
instructor,  and  4  clinical  assistants.  Diseases  of  the  Skin:  two 
professors,  2  clinical  professors,  3  lecturers,  2  instructors, 
3  clinical  assistants.  Diseases  of  Children:  three  professors, 
1  clinical  and  2  adjunct  professors,  4  lecturers,  4  instructors, 
and  4  clinical  assistants.  Diseases  of  the  Mind  and  Nervous  Sys- 
tem: one  professor,  1  clinical,  1  adjunct,  and  3  clinical  assist- 
ants. Roentgen  Diagnosis  and  Roentgen  Therapy:  one  clinical 
professor,  and  1  instructor.  Diseases  of  the  Eye:  three  profes- 
sors, 1  adjunct,  3  lecturers,  and  3  clinical  assistants.  Diseases 
of  the  Ear :  one  clinical  professor,  and  a  lecturer.  Diseases  of  the 
Throat  and  Nose :  four  professors,  2  clinical  professors,  4  adjuncts, 
3  lecturers,  4  instructors,  and  6  clinical  assistants.  With  such  a 
large  number  of  medical  specialists,  the  standard  of  instruction  is 
necessarily  very  high.  The  cost  of  tuition  for  general  clinics  is: 
$100,  for  a  six  weeks  ticket;  $150,  for  3  months;  $250,  for  six 
months;  and  $350,  for  twelve  months.  The  fee  for  most  of  the 
special  courses  is  $25. 

As  declared  in  one  of  their  publications,  the  New  York  Poly- 
clinic Medical  School  and  Hospital  ''stands  for  an  ideal  which 
represents  the  highest  and  best  in  scientific  medicine  and  surgery ; 
it  stands  for  an  altruism  which  is  evidenced  in  the  fact  that  350 
men  and  women,  laboring  day  in  and  day  out  for  its  success,  are 
not  only  working  without  remuneration,  but  many  of  them  are 
giving,  in  addition  to  their  time  and  labor,  generously  of  their 
private  means." 

The  supporters  of  the  institution,  lay  and  professional,  sub- 
scribed for  its  purposes  between  1897  and  1913  more  than  $650,- 
000.  The  following  subscribed  sums  of  $1,000  and  above:  Dr. 
Isaac  Adler,  J.  W.  Aitken,  Dr.  W.  S.  Bainbridge,  Dr.  J.  A.  Bodine, 
Dr.  R.  0.  Bom,  Dr.  E.  B.  Bronson,  Mrs.  A.  Carnegie,  William  P. 
Clyde,  A.  Costello,  A.  E.  Darling,  Dr.  R.  H.  M.  Dawbam,  Dr.  D. 
Bryson  Delavan,  Cleveland  H.  Dodge,  Edward  Earl,  James  W. 


POLYCLINIC  MEDICAL  SCHOOL  609 


Ellsworth,  Amos  Eno,  David  J.  Garth,  Dr.  V.  P.  Gibney,  Charles 
Hathaway,  William  Hayes,  Dr.  H.  Newton  Heineman,  Mrs.  Helen 
Hartley  Jenkins,  J.  Milbank,  Dr.  Robert  C.  Myles,  Dr.  R.  C.  M. 
Page,  Dr.  W.  B.  Pritchard,  Dr.  F.  J.  Quinlan,  Nelson  Robinson, 
Dr.  A.  R.  Robinson,  Dr.  A.  Seibert,  Col.  J.  J.  Slocum,  A.  Sladone, 
A.  F.  Troescher,  Dr.  James  P.  Tuttle,  Mrs.  H.  E.  Weatherbee,  Dr. 
David  Webster,  Dr.  J.  A.  Wyeth,  Dr.  Robert  H.  Wylie,  Dr.  W. 
Gill  Wylie,  Mrs.  Mary  Anna  Palmer  Draper.  The  place  of  honor 
on  the  list  belongs  to  Mr.  William  P.  Clyde,  who  donated  $300,000 ; 
next  is  the  bequest  of  $127,911.83  by  Mrs.  Helen  Hartley  Jenkins. 
Mrs.  Mary  Anna  Palmer  Draper  willed  $50,000,  and  Col.  J.  J. 
Slocum  donated  $28,500.  The  Woman's  Auxiliary  Board  of  the 
Polyclinic  Hospital  contributed  $12,675,  and  the  Alumnae  of  the 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  $3,500. 

On  October  20th,  1918,  the  Medical  Department  of  the  United 
States  Army,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  trustees,  took 
charge  of  and  occupied  the  Polyclinic  Hospital  for  the  use  of  the 
soldiers  of  the  United  States  army  during  the  World  War. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  trustees,  on  the  evening  of  October 
30th,  1918,  at  which  a  quorum  was  present,  the  founder  of  the 
institution,  after  giving  an  epitome  of  its  history  from  its  founda- 
tion to  the  present  moment,  and,  as  he  stated,  in  order  to  assure 
the  perpetuation  of  the  New  York  Polyclinic  Medical  School  and 
Hospital  and  to  maintain  the  high  ideals  for  which  he  and  his 
associates  for  so  many  years  had  labored,  moved  the  following 
resolution,  which  was  unanimously  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  the  Trustees  of  the  New  York  Polyclinic  Medical  School 
and  Hospital  transfer  by  proper  legal  method,  the  property  of  this  insti- 
tution to  Columbia  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  under  an  agree- 
ment to  be  entered  into  in  accordance  with  the  law,  that  the  Trustees  of 
Columbia  University  shall  perpetuate  the  institution  thus  transferred,  as 
the  New  York  Polyclinic  Medical  School  and  Hospital,  the  Post  Graduate 
Medical  Department  of  Columbia  University. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  Columbia  University  on  Novem- 
ber 4,  1918,  the  following  resolution  was  voted: 

Resolved,  That  the  Trustees  receive  with  grateful  appreciation  the  pro- 
posal of  the  Trustees  of  the  New  York  Polyclinic  Medical  School  and 
Hospital  to  transfer  the  property  of  this  institution  to  Columbia  University 
in  the  City  of  New  York  for  purposes  of  advanced  medical  instruction 
and  research. 


610 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Resolved,  That  the  Trustees  tender  to  Dr.  John  A.  Wyeth  of  New 
York  and  to  those  who  have  been  associated  with  him  in  building  up  and 
maintaining  the  Polyclinic  Hospital,  their  cordial  congratulations  upon 
their  accomplishment,  as  well  as  their  high  appreciation  of  the  public 
spirit  which  has  prompted  their  present  action  and  that  of  the  Trustees 
of  the  Hospital. 

Resolved,  That  it  be  referred  to  a  Special  Committee  consisting  of  the 
Chairman  of  the  Standing  Committees  on  Finance,  on  Buildings  and 
Grounds,  and  on  Education,  of  the  Special  Committee  on  Hospital  Rela- 
tions, of  the  President,  the  Treasurer,  and  the  Attorney  of  the  University, 
to  confer  with  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  Trustees  of  the  New  York 
Polyclinic  Medical  School  and  Hospital,  and  to  report  in  detail  as  to  the 
terms  and  conditions  for  the  acceptance  of  gift  as  well  as  the  proposed  plan 
for  the  administration  of  the  property. 

In  a  letter  from  President  Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  it  was  sug- 
gested that  advantage  be  taken  of  the  present  opportunity  to 
raise  a  million  dollar  endowment  fund  to  be  known  as  the  Wyeth 
Foundation  for  Post-Graduate  Medical  Education. 


CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  SCHOOL 


CHAPTEE  XI 


CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 

THE  creation  of  a  Medical  Department  for  Cornell  University, 
which  had  long  been  contemplated  by  the  trustees,  was  made 
possible  in  1898  by  the  gift  to  the  University  for  that  pur- 
pose of  funds  ample  for  the  construction  of  the  necessary  build- 
ing and  for  the  support  of  the  college.  The  college  was  established 
in  New  York  City,  in  order  that  it  might  have  adequate  facilities 
for  clinical  teaching.  From  the  start,  the  faculty  was  composed 
of  men  most  of  whom  had  been  associated  for  many  years  with  the 
Medical  Department  of  New  York  University,  and  joined  with 
them  a  number  of  physicians  and  surgeons  connected  with  impor- 
tant hospitals.  The  college  was  able  in  this  way  to  begin  with 
an  excellent  equipment.  The  first  instruction  was  given  in  tem- 
porary buildings  located  on  the  grounds  of  Bellevue  Hospital. 
Later  the  college  moved  to  its  own  building  on  First  avenue,  be- 
tween 27th  and  28th  streets.  The  building  was  given  by  Colonel 
Payne,  and  cost  about  $1,000,000. 

From  its  foundation,  Cornell  University  had  offered  special 
courses  for  students  preparing  for  the  study  of  medicine,  first  in 
the  Natural  History  course,  and  later  also  in  a  special  two-year 
Medical  Preparatory  course.  At  the  time  the  Medical  College 
was  established  in  New  York,  the  first  two  years  were  duplicated 
at  the  University  at  Ithaca,  since  many  of  the  fundamental  scien- 
tific subjects  of  which  this  part  of  the  course  mainly  consists  were 
already  provided  for  in  the  long-established  departments  of 
Botany,  Zoology,  Comparative  Anatomy,  Physics,  Chemistry, 
Physiology,  Histology,  Embryology,  and  Bacteriology.  The  courses 
in  these  departments  were  modified  where  necessary,  and  additional 
courses  were  added  so  as  to  make  the  work  at  Ithaca  equivalent 
to  the  first  two  years  in  New  York.  The  first  faculty  at  Ithaca 
consisted  of  Professors  Caldwell,  Wilder,  Nichols,  Gage,  Moore, 
Orndorff,  Trevor,  Fish,  Coville,  and  Chamot. 

The  main  College  building  in  New  York  comprises  a  Medical 

611 


fil2 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


School  and  Dispensary  on  First  avenue,  opposite  Bellevue  Hos- 
pital, and  occupies  the  entire  block  between  Twenty-seventh  and 
Twenty-eighth  streets.  The  building  is  devoted  to  the  Depart- 
ments of  Anatomy,  Physiology,  Chemistry,  Medicine,  Therapeu- 
tics, Surgery,  Obstetrics,  Pathology,  Bacteriology,  Neurology, 
Psycho-Pathology,  Pediatrics,  Gynecology,  Urology,  Dermatology, 
Laryngology  and  Rhinology,  Ophthalmology,  Otology,  Orthopaedic 
Surgery,  Roentgenology,  and  Medical  Jurisprudence. 

The  Loomis  Laboratory  (founded  in  1886  by  Colonel  Payne)  is 
used  for  undergraduate  instruction  in  Pharmacology  and  Hygiene, 
and  it  has  also  been  reorganized  as  a  research  laboratory  with  spe- 
cial departments  in  bacteriology,  physiological  chemistry,  experi- 
mental medicine,  and  pharmacology. 

The  College  Dispensary,  in  the  main  College  building,  is  fully 
equipped  for  purposes  of  instruction.  Its  service  is  extensive  and 
thoroughly  satisfactory.  The  average  daily  attendance  is  about 
268,  and  the  number  of  new  patients  number  annually  about  20,- 
813.  The  Dispensary  is  brought  into  close  touch  with  the  labora- 
tory and  research  facilities  of  the  College.  In  the  Department  of 
Medicine,  especially,  students  in  the  fourth  year  are  assigned  to 
service  in  the  Dispensary.  The  Department  of  Radiology,  as 
well  as  the  Laboratory  of  Clinical  Pathology,  is  in  direct  connec- 
tion with  the  Dispensary,  and  by  cooperation  and  coordination  of 
work  their  services  are  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  various  other 
departments  of  the  Dispensary  for  the  diagnosis  and  investigation 
of  disease,  and  for  the  purpose  of  instruction. 

The  Library  is  supplied  with  current  periodicals  in  German, 
French,  English,  and  Italian,  which  include  nearly  all  the  more 
important  journals  in  the  field  of  medical  science.  Every  effort 
is  made  to  maintain  a  library  commensurate  with  the  needs  of  the 
College.  In  addition  to  the  College  Library,  students  enjoy  cer- 
tain privileges  at  the  Library  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Med- 
icine, 17  West  43d  street,  the  second  largest  medical  library  in 
the  United  States,  and  at  the  various  public  libraries  of  the  city. 

The  Medical  College  has  privileges  for  instruction  in  the  New 
York  Hospital,  Bellevue  Hospital,  the  Neurological  Institute,  the 
Manhattan  State  Hospital,  the  Hudson  Street  Hospital,  and  the 
Hospital  for  the  Ruptured  and  Crippled.  The  College  also  has  an 
affiliation  with  the  General  Memorial  Hospital,  and  although  no 
teaching  is  done  there  at  present,  a  course  is  contemplated. 


CORNELL  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  fi13 

In  1913  a  definite  arrangement  was  established  between  Cornell 
University  and  the  New  York  Hospital,  through  the  donation  to 
the  Hospital  of  a  fund  which  was  presented  by  Mr.  George  F. 
Baker,  one  of  the  governors  of  the  Hospital,  upon  the  condition 
that  thereafter  half  the  entire  medical,  surgical,  and  pathological 
services  of  the  institution  should  be  definitely  assigned  to  the 
Cornell  University  Medical  College  for  the  advancement  of  its 
teaching  and  research.  By  this  advantageous  arrangement  the 
University  nominates  the  visiting  staff  and  laboratory  staff  of  its 
division,  and  secures  the  admission  of  its  students  to  the  wards  as 
clinical  clerks.  Furthermore,  the  laboratory  staffs  of  the  different 
departments  of  the  Medical  College  are  placed  at  the  service  of 
the  Hospital  for  the  purpose  of  extending  its  scientific  work. 

Bellevue  Hospital  is  located  opposite  the  main  College  building. 
It  is  organized  in  four  divisions,  one  of  which  has  been  placed  by 
the  trustees  of  the  Hospital  at  the  disposal  of  the  faculty  of  the 
Cornell  University  Medical  College  for  medical  instruction.  The 
visiting  staff  of  the  Second,  or  Cornell,  division,  is  drawn  entirely 
from  the  faculty  and  instructors  of  the  College,  and  by  coopera- 
tion with  the  Medical  Board  of  the  Hospital  this  division  has  been 
organized  with  a  view  to  the  best  interests  of  the  patients,  as  well 
as  with  a  view  to  furnishing  adequate  facilities  for  instruction. 
In  addition  to  the  staff  provided  by  the  hospital,  the  College  main- 
tains a  corps  of  research  workers  and  special  assistants  who  con- 
duct their  routine  examinations  in  extension  laboratories  equipped 
by  the  College,  in  rooms  adjacent  to  the  wards  of  the  hospital, 
and  who  consummate  their  major  investigations  in  the  more  com- 
pletely equipped  laboratories  of  the  College  building. 

By  courtesy  of  the  Neurological  Institute,  the  section  work  in 
nervous  diseases  is  offered  to  third  and  fourth  year  students  in 
the  wards  and  Out-Patient  Department  of  this  hospital,  the  stu- 
dents being  assigned  for  ward  work  in  small  sections  during  the 
third  and  fourth  years.  The  Neurological  Institute  is  a  hospital 
of  considerable  size,  devoted  to  the  care  of  nervous  diseases  and 
possessing  a  complete  equipment  for  neurological  examination, 
diagnosis,  and  treatment. 

The  Manhattan  State  Hospital  is  devoted  to  the  care  of  the 
mentally  incompetent  of  New  York  City,  and  has  a  capacity  of 
3,600  patients.  Through  the  courtesy  of  the  authorities  the  Pro- 
fessor of  Psycho-pathology  is  enabled  to  offer  in  its  wards  clinical 


614 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


instruction,  which  is  conducted  during  the  entire  morning,  weekly, 
for  eleven  weeks  in  the  fourth  year. 

The  Ithaca  Division  of  the  Medical  College  was  enabled  through 
the  generosity  of  the  late  Dean  Sage,  of  Albany,  to  erect  a  build- 
ing especially  designed  for  anatomy,  histology,  embryology,  phys- 
iology, and  biochemistry.  The  general  form  is  that  of  an  E,  157 
feet  long  and  50  feet  wide,  with  wings  40  feet  apart.  The  building 
was  named  Stimson  Hall,  by  request  of  Dean  Sage,  in  recognition 
of  the  services  rendered  toward  the  establishment  of  the  Medical 
College  by  Dr.  Lewis  A.  Stimson.  Among  the  facilities  of  the 
University  of  special  value  to  the  Medical  College  may  be  men- 
tioned the  museums  of  Vertebrate  and  Invertebrate  Zoology,  in- 
cluding Entomology  and  Comparative  Anatomy,  of  Agriculture,  of 
Botany,  of  Geology,  and  of  Veterinary  Medicine.  The  University 
Library,  with  its  475,000  bound  volumes  and  3,700  current  period- 
icals and  transactions,  is  as  freely  open  to  medical  students  as  to 
other  University  students.  Mrs.  Dean  Sage  bequeathed  to  the 
University  the  sum  of  $50,000,  the  income,  or,  in  the  discretion  of 
the  University,  the  principal  also,  to  be  used  to  promote  the  ad- 
vancement of  medical  science  by  the  prosecution  of  research  at 
Ithaca,  by  the  Ithaca  division  of  the  Cornell  University  Medical 
College,  in  connection  with  any  or  all  of  the  subjects  at  any  time 
embraced  in  the  curriculum  of  the  Cornell  University  Medical 
School. 

The  purpose  of  the  Cornell  University  Medical  College  is  to 
develop  physicians  of  the  best  type,  and  to  conduct  researches 
into  the  nature  and  cure  of  disease.  Since  the  founding  of  the 
Medical  College,  862  students  have  been  granted  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Medicine,  and  a  marked  advance  has  been  made  in  the 
field  of  research. 

The  faculty  of  the  Medical  College  in  New  York  City  numbers 
at  present  fifty-two  professors  and  assistant  professors,  with  fifty- 
six  instructors  and  assistants,  twenty-two  clinical  instructors  and 
clinical  assistants,  and  eighty-two  members  of  the  Dispensary  Staff. 
The  faculty  of  the  Ithaca  Division  of  the  Medical  College  consists 
of  seven  professors  and  assistant  professors,  with  fourteen  in- 
structors and  assistants. 

At  the  foundation  of  the  Medical  College,  the  board  of  trustees 
of  the  University  established  a  Medical  College  Council  for  the 
purpose  of  making  recommendations  to  the  board  of  trustees  in 


CORNELL  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


615 


relation  to  the  business  management  of  the  College.  The  Council 
at  present  consists  of  the  following  members:  Jacob  Gould  Schur- 
man,  president  of  the  University  and  chairman  ex-officio  of  the 
council;  William  M.  Polk,  dean  of  the  Medical  College;  H.  R. 
Ickelheimer,  H.  H.  Westinghouse,  and  Ira  A.  Place  of  the  board 
of  trustees;  L.  A.  Stimson  and  W.  Gilman  Thompson  of  the  fac- 
ulty, and  J.  Thorn  Willson,  clerk  of  the  council.  The  principal 
administrative  officers  of  the  faculty  are  William  M.  Polk,  M.  D., 
LL.  D.,  dean  of  the  Medical  College ;  J.  S.  Ferguson,  M.  Sc.,  M.  D., 
secretary  of  the  Medical  Faculty  in  New  York  City;  A.  T.  Kerr, 
B.  S.,  M.  D.,  secretary  of  the  Medical  College  in  Ithaca. 


CHAPTER  XII 


FORDHAM  UNIVERSITY  SCHOOL  OF  MEDICINE 

IN  what  was  felt  to  be  the  normal  course  of  the  development  of 
the  institution,  on  June  21,  1904,  the  board  of  trustees  of  St. 
John's  College,  Fordham,  New  York,  authorized  the  opening 
of  a  school  of  law  and  a  school  of  medicine.  St.  John's  College 
had  been  established  in  1841  under  a  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  of 
New  York,  but  in  June,  1846,  the  administration  of  the  institution 
passed  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who  transferred  their 
College  of  St.  Mary's  from  Marion  county,  Kentucky,  to  Fordham. 
St.  Mary's,  founded  in  1820  and  incorporated  with  all  the  powers 
of  a  university  by  Kentucky,  was  the  original  home  of  the  New 
York  institution. 

The  first  courses  in  law  and  medicine  were  begun  in  September, 
1905.  The  presence  of  Fordham  Hospital,  one  of  the  chain  of  city 
hospitals,  recently  erected  on  ground  that  had  belonged  to  the 
college,  had  been  one  stimulus  for  the  foundation  of  a  medical 
school,  since  it  afforded  abundant  clinical  material.  The  School 
of  Medicine  was  established  in  connection  with  the  Department  of 
Arts  in  the  part  of  the  city  that  had  been  the  village  of  Fordham, 
though  the  Law  School  was  organized  down  town  near  the  courts, 
because  it  was  felt  that  the  almost  suburban  conditions  made  a 
much  better  environment  for  medical  students  than  the  crowded 
down  town  quarter  of  the  city  with  its  many  distractions  and 
temptations. 

The  first  year,  the  Medical  School  was  directed  by  Dr.  James  N. 
Butler  as  dean,  and  eight  medical  students  registered.  The  fol- 
lowing year  Dr.  James  J.  Walsh  became  acting  dean  and  the 
number  of  students  rose  to  twenty-three.  At  the  end  of  five  years 
the  School  had  over  one  hundred  students,  and  the  number  had 
increased  to  over  two  hundred  in  the  session  of  1912-13.  Dr. 
"Walsh  was  succeeded  as  dean  by  Dr.  William  S.  Healy,  and,  with 
some  fluctuations,  the  number  of  medical  students  continued  to 
grow.    In  1913-14  there  were  138;  in  1914-15,  174;  in  1915-16 

616 


MEDICAL  SCHOOL,  FORDHAM  UNIVERSITY 


FORDHAM  UNIVERSITY  SCHOOL  OF  MEDICINE  617 


there  were  210 ;  in  1916-17,  271 ;  and  then,  with  the  opening  of  the 
World  War  and  the  call  for  medical  help  for  the  soldiers  to  as 
great  an  extent  as  possible,  the  number  of  medical  students  rose 
to  nearly  three  hundred.  Altogether,  some  1,800  medical  stu- 
dents have  been  in  attendance  at  the  University.  Dr.  Healy  w£is 
succeeded  as  dean  in  1917  by  Dr.  Joseph  Byrne. 

Some  features  of  the  teaching  at  Fordham  represented  pioneer 
work  in  medical  education.  A  regular  series  of  lectures  on  the 
history  of  medicine  was  given,  on  which  attendance  was  required. 
From  the  beginning  a  course  in  physiological  psychology,  the  first 
in  the  country  to  be  established  for  medical  students,  was  arranged 
for  so  as  to  provide  the  basis  of  knowledge  of  the  influence  of 
the  mind  on  the  body.  This  was  supplemented  by  a  course  in  psy- 
chotherapy, also  the  first  for  medical  students  in  America  so  as 
to  enable  young  physicians  to  understand  the  success  of  so  many 
modes  of  irregular  practice  of  medicine  and  in  order  that  their 
dependence  on  drugs  and  other  physical  remedial  matters  might  not 
be  absolute,  but  be  helped  out  by  suggestion  in  various  forms. 

In  1911,  under  the  active  stimulus  of  Dr.  Victor  Sorapure,  the 
Pro-Dean  and  Professor  of  Pathology,  a  handsome  new  clinical 
building  was  planned  and  erected.  This  provided  ample  facilities 
for  doing  clinical  teaching  of  medicine  and  surgery,  as  well  as 
all  the  specialties.  Unfortunately,  Dr.  Sorapure 's  connection  with 
the  School  was  severed  just  at  the  time  when  the  organization  of 
the  clinic  was  to  have  taken  place.  This  undoubtedly  delayed 
and  hampered  the  successful  introduction  of  certain  features  of 
the  clinical  work,  and  led  to  a  considerable  reduction  in  the  num- 
ber of  students  in  the  following  years. 

The  first  use  to  which  the  new  clinical  building  was  put  was 
for  the  holding  of  a  Medical  Extension  Course  of  clinics  and  lec- 
tures in  nervous  and  mental  diseases.  Up  to  this  time,  graduate 
teaching  in  medicine  had  been  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  so- 
called  post-graduate  schools.  It  was  felt  that  the  regular  medical 
schools  could  not  take  this  up,  though  the  need  for  it  was  manifest. 
The  extension  course  planned  at  Fordham  was  meant  to  fill  this 
long-felt  want.  As  planned  and  carried  out,  it  was  an  absolute 
innovation  in  American  medical  education  and  attracted  wide  and 
very  favorable  attention.  Under  the  direction  of  Professor  Wil- 
liam J.  M.  A.  Maloney,  who  had  come  to  the  Faculty  as  Professor 
of  Nervous  Diseases  during  the  preceding  scholastic  year,  after 


618 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


years  of  rather  intimate  relationship  with  distinguished  European 
workers  in  nervous  and  mental  diseases,  some  of  the  very  best  for- 
eign teachers  and  original  investigators  were  secured,  who  were 
willing,  during  the  vacation  period,  even  to  cross  the  ocean  to  take 
part  in  an  organized  effort  to  extend  the  field  of  higher  medical 
education. 

Up  to  this  time,  American  physicians  who  wanted  to  get  in 
touch  with  the  latest  advances  in  medicine,  had  been  compelled  to 
go  abroad.  There  they  were  very  seriously  hampered  by  the  lan- 
guage difficulty  and  as  a  result,  even  though  they  could  stay  a 
year,  found  their  efforts  rather  unsatisfactory.  As  a  rule,  they 
had  to  confine  themselves  to  a  single  country  and  sometimes  to 
one  clinic  and  its  teaching.  They  did  not  secure  a  broad  general 
view  of  the  subject  and  came  home  encouraged  in  narrow  special- 
ism as  regards  certain  ideas,  even  in  their  specialties. 

The  idea  of  the  Fordham  Medical  Extension  course  was  to  bring 
representative  men  from  the  various  countries  and  schools  of 
thought  in  Europe  who  could  talk  English  themselves  and  thus 
give  American  physicians  opportunities  to  get  in  touch  with  the 
whole  rounded  aspect  of  their  subject.  Dr.  Henry  Head  of  Lon- 
don, the  youngest  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  whose  fine  original 
work  on  the  sensory  nerves  had  brought  him  early  fame,  was  the 
best  known  among  the  teachers  who  came,  though  Dr.  Gordon 
Holmes,  his  English  colleague.  Professor  of  the  Physiology  of  the 
Nervous  System  at  the  University  of  London,  was  almost  his  peer. 
The  one  represented  the  anatomical  and  the  other  the  physiological 
trend  in  neurology.  From  Zurich  came  Dr.  Jung,  Associate  in 
Psychiatry  in  the  University  of  Zurich,  the  co-developer  with 
Freud  of  Vienna  of  the  system  of  psycho-analysis.  From  Munich 
came  Assistant  Professor  Knauer,  long  associated  with  Professor 
Kraepelin,  the  most  distinguished  of  living  psychiatrists.  The 
Spanish  School  of  Neurology,  for  which  Ramon  y  Cajal  had  done 
so  much,  and  attracted  so  much  attention  that  he  had  been  awarded 
both  the  prize  of  Paris  and  the  Nobel  Prize,  was  represented  by 
Dr.  Achucarro  of  Madrid.  Features  of  American  original  work  in 
nervous  and  mental  diseases  were  represented  by  Dr.  William  A. 
White,  superintendent  of  the  Government  Hospital  for  the  In- 
sane at  Washington ;  Dr.  J.  V.  May,  president  of  the  Commission 
of  Lunacy  in  New  York  State;  Dr.  Colin  K.  Russell,  of  McGill 
University  and  Victoria  Hospital,  Montreal;  Dr.  Carl  L.  Alsberg, 


FORDHAM  UNIVERSITY  SCHOOL  OF  MEDICINE  619 


of  Washin^on,  biological  chemist  to  United  States  Government ; 
Dr.  H.  H.  Goddard,  superintendent  of  the  New  Jersey  School  for 
Feeble-minded  Children  at  Vineland,  N.  J.;  Dr.  Elsberg  of  New 
York  City,  well  known  for  his  surgical  work  on  the  central  nervous 
system  and  especially  the  spinal  cord,  and  Dr.  Smith  Ely  Jelliffe, 
Clinical  Professor  of  Psychiatry  at  Fordham  and  author  of  articles 
and  books  on  the  subject  that  are  widely  read. 

The  response  in  number  of  students  to  this  program  was,  in 
spite  of  general  unfamiliarity  with  Fordham 's  Medical  School  up 
to  this  time,  and  the  inability  to  secure  such  advertising  as  was 
necessary,  most  gratifying  to  those  who  had  planned  and  worked 
out  the  course.  Altogether,  112  physicians  from  various  parts  of 
the  country  came  to  take  advantage  of  it  during  the  three  weeks 
of  late  September,  1912.  Among  these  were  Professor  Sears  of 
the  University  of  Vermont,  Professor  Ayres  of  Harvard,  Profes- 
sor Bliss  of  George  Washington  University,  St.  Louis,  and  a  num- 
ber of  assistant  professors,  university  assistants,  heads  of  lunatic 
asylums,  and  of  neurological  and  psychiatric  institutions  and  as- 
sistant physicians  from  these  places,  as  well  as  practising  neurolo- 
gists from  various  parts  of  the  country. 

The  course  proved  most  successful.  The  University  conferred 
degrees  on  the  most  distinguished  of  the  visiting  professors,  and 
a  dinner  given  to  the  visitors  at  the  Manhattan  Hotel,  New  York, 
brought  together  some  of  the  best  known  neurologists  and  psy- 
chiatrists of  the  country.  Among  them  were  Dr.  Adolph  Meyer, 
Director  of  the  Phipps  Psychiatric  Clinic  at  Johns  Hopkins,  Bal- 
timore, Dr.  Charles  K.  Mills,  Professor  of  Neurology  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  Dr.  Hugh  T.  Patrick,  Professor  of  Neur- 
ology at  the  University  of  Chicago,  Professor  Frederick  Peterson 
of  Columbia  University,  Professor  Harry  Gushing  of  Harvard, 
Professor  Charles  L.  Dana  of  Cornell,  Professor  Graeme  Ham- 
mond of  the  Post-Graduate  School  of  Medicine,  Professor  Theo- 
dore H.  Janeway  of  Columbia  University,  Professor  M.  Allen 
Starr  of  Columbia  University,  Professor  Sears  of  the  University 
of  Vermont,  Dr.  B.  Sachs  of  Mt.  Sinai  and  Bellevue  Hospitals,  Dr. 
William  A.  White,  Superintendent  of  the  Government  Hospital 
for  the  Insane,  Washington,  and  many  others.  The  Catholic 
Church  in  New  York  was  represented  by  Rt.  Rev.  Mgr.  Lavelle, 
delegated  by  the  Cardinal,  and  the  Jesuit  Order  by  the  Provincial, 


620 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Very  Rev.  Joseph  Hanselmann,  and  the  University  by  the  presi- 
dent, Very  Rev.  Thomas  J.  McCloskey. 

The  international  character  of  the  course  and  the  magnificent 
response  of  representatives  of  the  most  important  medical  schools 
in  this  country  to  the  eifort  thus  put  forth,  and  their  manifest  ap- 
preciation of  it,  marked  an  epoch  in  American  medical  education. 
Probably  the  most  important  feature  of  it  was  the  fact  that  this 
broad,  thorough  work  had  been  undertaken  by  a  medical  school 
under  Catholic  Church  auspices,  for  it  made  it  perfectly  clear 
that  the  one  idea  of  the  creation  of  Catholic  universities  and  their 
extension  into  the  field  of  teaching  medicine  and  law  was  to  afford 
the  highest  facilities  for  the  best  possible  education  to  Catholic 
students  and  such  as  might  be  in  attendance  at  their  graduate 
departments.  There  had  been  an  unfortunate  tradition,  quite 
without  foundation,  that  the  Church  was  rather  opposed  to  the 
development  of  modem  science.  Here  was  the  open  contradiction 
of  it. 

Unfortunately,  just  after  this  course  was  completed,  a  number  of 
differences  of  opinion  between  the  university  authorities  and  the 
medical  school  faculty  in  the  matter  of  the  maintenance  of  stand- 
ards led  to  a  series  of  resignations  which  sadly  impaired  the  value 
of  the  publicity  secured  by  this  Extension  Course  and  to  a  serious 
reduction  in  the  number  of  students  for  several  following  years. 

The  handicap  thus  incurred  was  gradually  overcome,  and  the 
number  of  students  increased  by  1915-16  to  what  it  had  been  in 
1912-13.  With  the  coming  of  the  War  there  was,  as  has  been 
said,  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  medical  students.  Ford- 
ham  Medical  School's  response  to  the  demands  of  the  war  was 
immediate.  During  the  first  month  after  the  declaration  of  war, 
an  ambulance  unit  consisting  of  more  than  one  hundred  Fordhatn 
men,  was  organized  and  dispatched  to  the  front.  The  University 
altogether  had  over  1,000  stars  on  its  service  flag  and  the  Medical 
School  was  thought  to  have  more  men  in  the  service  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  graduates  than  any  other. 

In  1912,  the  Department  of  Pharmacy  in  connection  with  the 
School  of  Medicine  was  established  and  this  afterwards  became 
the  College  of  Pharmacy.  The  stimulus  for  this  new  develop- 
ment was  due  to  Dr.  Sorapure,  the  Dean  of  the  School  of  Medicine, 
and  Dr.  Jacob  Diner,  at  the  time  a  medical  student  of  the  Uni- 
versity, but  who  had  been  very  prominent  in  pharmaceutical  cir- 


I 


FORDHAM  UNIVERSITY  SCHOOL  OF  MEDICINE  621 


cles  in  New  York  City  before  taking  up  this  study  of  medicine. 
In  1912,  the  first  year  after  its  foundation,  there  were  thirteen 
students,  increased  to  35  in  1913,  and  to  60  in  1914.  In  1915 
there  were  about  100  registered  and  the  number  increased  during 
the  following  year  until  the  war  came  to  disturb  educational  con- 
ditions. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 

By  Willis  G.  Tucker,  M.  D. 

THE  Albany  Medical  College  was  organized  in  1838  and  incor- 
porated in  1839,  in  which  year  it  gave  its  first  course  of 
instruction  and  graduated  its  first  class.  It  is  the  second 
oldest  medical  school  now  existing  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and 
only  sixteen  schools  still  survive  in  the  United  States  which  were 
organized  at  an  earlier  date.  These,  in  chronological  order,  are: 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  Columbia,  Harvard,  Dartmouth,  Uni- 
versity of  Maryland,  Yale,  University  of  Cincinnati,  Bowdoin, 
University  of  Vermont,  Medical  College  State  of  South  Carolina, 
George  Washington  University,  Jefferson,  University  of  Virginia, 
Medical  College  of  Georgia,  Tulane,  and  the  University  of  Louis- 
ville. The  Medical  College  of  Virginia,  at  Richmond,  was  organ- 
ized in  the  same  year. 

In  those  days  the  need  of  clinical  facilities  was  not  recognized, 
and  medical  schools,  like  the  old-time  seminaries,  were  often 
located  in  small  villages  where  the  cost  of  living  was  low.  The 
courses  were  short  and  the  faculties  small,  and  many  of  the  pro- 
fessors came  from  the  cities  and  gave  condensed  lecture  courses 
of  short  duration.  When  the  Albany  school  w£is  organized  there 
were  two  others  in  New  York  besides  Columbia,  and  three  others, 
not  very  far  off,  in  New  England,  all  now  extinct  except  that  at 
Burlington,  Vermont.  At  Fairfield,  Herkimer  county,  New  York, 
was  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Western  Dis- 
trict of  the  State  of  New  York,  organized  in  1812,  and  lasting 
until  1840,  which  was  for  a  good  many  years  a  large  and  successful 
school.  Drs.  James  McNaughton  and  T.  Romeyn  Beck,  both  of 
Albany,  were  members  of  its  faculty,  and  during  the  twenty-eight 
years  of  its  existence  it  had  3,123  students,  of  whom  589  were 
graduated.  The  Vermont  Academy  of  Medicine,  at  Castleton, 
Vt.,  was  created  in  1818  and  ceased  to  exist  in  1861.  For  years 
this  was  a  thriving:  school  with  a  strong:  faculty  which  included 
Drs.  William  Tully,  Theodore  Woodward,  Alden  March,  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Albany  school;  Lewis  C.  Beck,  Amos  Eaton, 
the  distinguished  naturalist;  and  James  H.  Armsby,  a  graduate 
of  the  school  and  later,  with  his  brother-in-law,  D--  March,  a 
founder  of  the  Albany  Medical  College.  At  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  was 
established  in  1823  the  Berkshire  Medical  College,  which  survived 
until  1867  and  was  a  good  school  in  its  day ;  and  the  oth**r  school 

622 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


623 


in  New  York  State  which  antedated  Albany  was  at  Geneva,  and 
known  as  the  Medical  Institute  of  Geneva  College,  which  was 
organized  in  1836  and  was  the  nucleus  of  the  Medical  Department 
of  the  University  of  Syracuse  in  1872.  As  medical  teaching  pro- 
gressed and  the  need  of  clinical  and  laboratory  facilities  became 
more  apparent,  these  four  flourishing  schools,  which  did  good 
work  in  their  day,  one  after  another,  closed  their  doors,  and  the 
Albany  school  may  be  considered,  in  a  way,  as  the  successor  of 
that  at  Fairfield  and  an  offshoot  from  that  at  Castleton. 

The  Albany  Medical  College  was  founded  by  Drs.  Alden  March 
and  James  H.  Armsby  in  1838,  and  incorporated  by  the  legislature 
in  1839,  the  Act  of  Incorporation  being  Chapter  26  of  the  laws 
of  that  year.  Dr.  March  was  born  in  Sutton,  Mass.,  September 
20,  1795,  was  brought  up  on  a  farm,  acquired  his  early  education 
in  the  public  schools,  studied  medicine  with  his  brother.  Dr.  David 
March,  who  was  an  army  surgeon,  and  attended  lectures  upon 
medicine  in  Boston  and  at  Brown  University,  from  which  he 
received,  September  6,  1820,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  He 
began  practice  in  Albany  the  same  year  and,  although  the  place 
then  had  a  population  of  less  than  15,000,  he  soon  formed  a  plan 
to  establish  a  medical  school  here.  In  1821  he  delivered  a  course 
of  lectures  upon  anatomy  which  were  illustrated  by  dissections,  in 
a  small  wooden  building  on  Montgomery  street,  north  of  Columbia, 
to  a  class  of  fourteen  students.  At  that  time  the  prejudice  against 
dissection  of  the  human  body  was  very  great,  and  Dr.  March 
found  it  impossible  to  obtain  material  at  home,  and  was  obliged 
to  go  so  far  as  to  Boston  for  it,  sometimes  driving  the  entire  dis- 
tance, at  great  personal  discomfort  and  no  little  risk,  with  a  body 
in  a  sack  beside  him.  In  1825  he  was  appointed  Professor  of 
Anatomy  and  Physiology  in  the  school  at  Castleton,  serving  as 
such  for  ten  years,  but  continuing  his  lectures  in  Albany,  and  on 
Jan.  11,  1830,  he  delivered  a  public  lecture  on  the  ''Expediency 
of  Establishing  a  Medical  College  and  Hospital  in  the  City  of 
Albany, "  as  an  introduction  to  his  course  of  lectures  on  anatomy, 
which  was  published  by  the  class  and  attracted  much  attention. 

In  1832  he  opened  ''Dr.  March's  Practical  School  of  Anatomy 
and  Surgery,"  with  twenty  students,  and  the  catalogue  of  May, 
1833,  in  which  it  is  called  the  "Albany  Medical  School,"  gives  a 
faculty  of  six  lecturers,  and  51  students  in  two  classes.  Among 
the  senior  students  appears  the  name  of  James  H.  Armsby,  who 
was  born  at  Sutton,  Mass.,  December  31,  1810,  and  came  to 
Albany  in  1831  as  a  student  of  Dr.  March,  whose  brother-in-law 
he  was,  and  became  his  assistant  in  the  school,  meanwhile  at- 
tending lectures  at  Castleton,  from  which  school  he  was  graduated 
in  1833.  He  served  as  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology  at 
Castleton  from  1834  to  1838,  when  he  resigned  the  position  in 
order  that  he  might  devote  his  entire  time  to  the  work  of  organ- 
izing, with  Dr.  March,  the  Medical  College  at  Albany  which  Dr. 


624 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


March  had  projected  in  1830.  In  1836  Dr.  March's  ''Albany 
Medical  School"  appears  to  have  been  a  smaller  affair,  and  a 
prospectus  of  that  year  is  entitled  "A  Catalogue  of  Students 
attending  Drs.  March  and  Armsby 's  Lectures  on  Anatomy, 
Physiology  and  Surgery  in  Albany, ' '  and  there  seem  to  have  been 
no  other  teachers.  There  were  37  students,  but  they  had  to  go  to 
Castleton  or  elsewhere  to  obtain  a  degree,  and  the  need  of  an 
incorporated  and  degree-conferring  school  was  apparent.  With 
this  end  in  view,  Dr.  Armsby  delivered  several  courses  of  public 
lectures  in  Albany,  Troy,  and  neighboring  places,  illustrated  by 
dissections  of  human  subjects,  for  the  purpose  of  arousing  an 
interest  in  medical  education  and  hospital  work,  and  these  were 
largely  attended.  One  such  course  was  delivered  in  1837  at 
Morange's  building,  comer  of  Broadway  and  Maiden  Lane,  which 
was  attended  by  some  three  hundred  of  the  prominent  citizens 
of  Albany,  and  at  its  close  a  complimentary  letter  of  appreciation 
and  thanks  was  addressed  to  Dr.  Armsby  and  signed  by  Greene 
C.  Bronson,  Gideon  Hawley,  Daniel  D.  Barnard,  Erastus  Corning, 
Gerritt  Y.  Lansing,  Friend  Humphrey,  John  Meads,  Amos  Dean, 
and  many  others  of  equal  prominence  in  the  community  who  had 
attended  the  course.  Largely  as  a  result  of  the  interest  excited  by 
these  lectures,  a  meeting  was  held  April  14,  1838,  at  the  Mansion 
House,  to  take  steps  for  the  organization  of  a  medical  school. 
It  was  attended  by  Ira  Harris,  Robert  H.  Pruyn,  Bradford  R. 
Wood,  George  Dexter,  James  Goold,  John  0.  Cole,  Thomas  McEl- 
roy,  Drs.  March  and  Armsby,  Eind  many  others.  Most  of  these 
gentlemen  subsequently  served  as  trustees,  and  all  of  them  are 
well  remembered  by  the  writer,  who  studied  medicine  with  Dr. 
Armsby  and  was  associated  with  him  as  teacher  for  several  years 
and  until  his  death  in  1875,  and  who  attended  as  a  student  the 
two  last  courses  of  lectures  upon  surgery  which  were  given  by 
Dr.  March.  At  this  meeting  of  1838  Dr.  March  stated  the  object 
and  the  following  resolution  was  adopted:  ^'Resolved,  that  this 
meeting  deem  it  expedient  to  establish  a  Medical  College  in  this 
city,  and  to  endeavor  hereafter  to  obtain  an  act  of  incorporation 
from  the  legislature." 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  petition  to  the  legis- 
lature and  obtain  signatures  to  the  same,  and  it  was  drawn  up 
forthwith  and  signed  by  those  present  as  a  beginning.  Judge 
Harris  offered  the  following  resolution,  which  was  adopted : 
''Resolved,  that  a  stock  of  $5,000  be  created,  and  a  committee  ap- 
pointed to  solicit  subscriptions  to  aid  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Institution. ' ' 

Samuel  Stevens  and  George  Dexter  were  appointed  a  committee 
to  prepare  articles  of  association  and  a  paper  for  signature  by 
those  who  should  subscribe  to  the  fund.  And  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  apply  to  the  Common  Council  for  the  use  of  the 
unoccupied  Lancaster  School  building  on  Eagle  street  by  the  col- 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


625 


lege  for  five  years  ensuing.  This  building  was  a  substantial  brick 
structure  which  had  been  erected  in  1816,  and  opened  in  1817,  by 
the  city,  as  a  school.  Joseph  Lancaster  was  an  Englishman  who 
had  established  in  England  a  monitorial  system  of  school  teaching 
which  had  proved  successful,  and  very  economical  in  its  adminis- 
tration, and  it  appears  that  as  early  as  1810,  when  there  were  no 
public  schools  in  the  city,  the  Common  Council  had  under  consid- 
eration the  project  of  establishing  a  free  school  on  the  Lancaster 
plan.  On  May  26,  1812,  the  legislature  incorporated  the  Albany 
Lancaster  School  Society,  and  the  school,  which  had  been  organ- 
ized some  time  before,  moved  into  the  new  building  on  its  comple- 
tion in  1817.  The  matter  is  of  interest  in  this  connection  because 
this  building  was  subsequently  acquired  by  the  Medical  College 
which  has  ever  since  continued  to  occupy  it.  It  was  built  by  the 
Common  Council  at  a  cost  of  $23,918.93,  and  it  was  opened  on 
April  5,  1817,  with  impressive  inauguration  services.  A  proces- 
sion, consisting  of  the  trustees,  principal  and  400  pupils,  formed 
at  the  house  of  the  president  of  the  society,  Philip  S.  Van  Rensse- 
laer, comer  of  State  and  Chapel  streets,  and  moved  to  the  Capitol, 
where  it  was  met  by  the  Governor  of  the  State,  mayor  and  recorder 
of  the  city,  clergy  and  citizens,  and  proceeded  to  the  school  house. 
The  exercises  consisted  of  a  prayer  by  Rev.  Dr.  Bradford,  an  ad- 
dress by  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck,  and  benediction  by  Dr.  De  Witt. 
In  1818  Lancaster  made  a  tour  in  the  United  States  and  visited 
Albany,  where  he  was  received  with  much  ceremony.  His  method 
is  unheard  of  now,  but  was  famous  in  its  day,  and  it  is  well  that 
some  record  of  it  should  be  preserved.  In  1888,  Mr.  Theodore 
Van  Heusen,  of  Albany,  who  had  attended  the  school,  read  a  paper 
before  the  Albany  Institute  in  which  he  gave  his  recollections  of 
it.  He  gives  a  letter  received  by  him  from  Mr.  William  H.  Bogart, 
the  distinguished  legislative  correspondent  and  long  a  winter  resi- 
dent of  Albany,  whose  letters  signed  ' '  Sentinel ' '  were  well  known 
to  a  former  generation,  which  is  dated  from  Aurora,  N.  Y.,  Octo- 
ber 4,  1888,  in  which  he  says : 

I  observe  that  you  are  to  give  the  history  of  the  old  Laneasterian 
School.  I  am  very  much  gratified  at  such  an  announcement  for  I  know 
that  in  Albany  history  that  should  be  preserved.  I  recollect  seeing  Mr. 
Lancaster  in  Albany,  and  quite  likely  it  was  at  the  Academy  where  your 
paper  will  be  read.  He  was,  I  think,  a  full-sized  man,  perhaps  more  so, 
as  that  would  give  point  to  the  clever  anecdote  that  when  Joseph  Lan- 
caster was  at  Washington  he  was  called  to  preside  at  some  meeting  held 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  Henry  Clay  said  he  never  before 
saw  the  chair  so  well  filled,  and  Lancaster  answered  that  he  who  filled  it 
best  was  no  better  than  Clay.  Albany  took  up  the  Laneasterian  idea 
and  for  years  the  school  was  a  feature  of  the  new  and  progressive  edu- 
cation. 

Speaking  of  the  school,  Mr.  Van  Heusen  says: 


626 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


As  I  call  to  mind  the  school  building  it  was  convenient  and  admirably 
adapted  to  the  purpose.  The  main  room  was  arranged  to  seat  450  pupils, 
and  not  an  obstruction  in  it  to  prevent  the  teachers  seeing  every  scholar. 
Two  stories  were  thrown  into  one.  Starting  from  the  center  on  either  side, 
the  desks  were  placed,  row  after  row,  each  one  higher  than  the  other, 
so  that  at  the  extreme  ends  the  last  row  was  only  about  eight  feet  from 
the  ceiling.  They  were  arranged  for  nine  pupils  and,  at  the  head  of  each 
class,  a  seat  for  the  teacher.  In  the  center  of  the  room  a  large  black- 
board was  placed  on  which  was  plainly  written  the  writing  lesson  for  the 
day.  On  one  side  was  the  principal's  desk  and  on  the  other  a  high 
pulpit  for  the  declaimers.  The  boys  were  on  one  side  and  the  girls  on 
the  other  side  of  the  room  and  there  was  a  play-room  for  each  at  either 
end  of  the  building. 

The  machinery  that  worked  this  large  school  was  economical  and  easily 
understood.  There  was  one  principal  and  two  assistants  and  $700  paid  the 
salaries  of  all.  To  aid  these  teachers  there  were  two  monitor-generals, 
and  over  each  class  a  pupil  was  placed  to  act  as  teacher.  The  system  was 
full  of  incentive  to  get  on,  to  excel,  to  be  the  foremost  scholar.  At  every 
stage  was  a  reward  and  the  best  scholars  were  selected  as  teachers  and  moni- 
tors. In  writing  the  youngest  were  provided  with  sand-boxes ;  next  higher, 
slates  were  used,  and  further  on  pen,  ink  and  books  for  the  more  advanced ; 
and  in  all  the  studies  the  same  thought  prevailed — "Excelsior''  always.  To 
be  a  teacher  was  something;  to  be  a  monitor-general  was  a  great  thing; 
and  to  obtain  a  scholarship  in  the  Albany  Academy  the  most  coveted  of  all. 

Mr.  William  A.  Tweed  Dale  was  principal  of  this  scliool  for 
twenty-three  years.  He  was  a  Scotchman ;  a  pedagogue  of  the  old 
type,  learned  and  eccentric,  and  he  had  been  a  pupil  of  Lancaster 
and  of  Dr.  Bell,  who  was  really  the  originator  of  the  system.  In 
1832  Asiatic  cholera  first  visited  this  country  and  Albany  suffered 
greatly.  It  caused  the  deepest  gloom  and  such  terror  that  all  who 
could  do  so  got  away  from  the  city.  The  Lancaster  School,  being 
controlled  by  the  city,  was  converted  into  a  hospital,  and  this  broke 
up  the  school  which  was  formally  declared  closed  in  1834.  The 
building  hadl)een  designed  by  Philip  Hooker,  architect  of  the  old 
C^ipitol  and  some  of  the  finest  buildings  in  Albany,  a  few  of  which, 
like  the  Albany  Academy,  Second  Presbyterian  Church  and  State 
Bank,  are  still  standing.  It  was  substantially  built,  commodious, 
well  situated  and  not  lacking  in  dignity,  and  in  every  way  well 
adapted  to  the  use  which  the  founders  of  the  medical  school  de- 
sired to  make  of  it.  In  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  com- 
mittee on  organization,  the  use  of  this  building  for  five  years  was 
granted,  free  of  rent,  by  the  Common  Council,  for  the  purpose 
proposed. 

At  this  time  Tennis  Van  Vechten  was  mayor  of  Albany,  and  he 
took  an  active  part  in  the  organization  of  the  school  and  was  the 
first  president  of  the  board  of  trustees,  serving  until  1841,  when 
he  was  succeeded  by  Jared  L.  Rathbone.  Among  other  active  par- 
ticipators were  George  Dexter,  secretary  of  the  trustees  from  1838 
until  his  death  in  1882;  Amos  Dean,  and  Robert  H.  Pruyn,  who 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


627 


served  as  trustee  for  forty-four  years  and  until  his  death  in  1882. 
In  May,  1838,  another  meeting  was  held  which  was  largely  at- 
tended. Articles  of  association  were  adopted  and  the  following 
trustees  were  chosen:  Daniel  D.  Barnard,  Samuel  Stevens,  John 
Tayler,  Ira  Harris,  Robert  H.  Pruyn,  Friend  Humphrey,  Bradford 
R.  Wood,  James  Goold,  George  Dexter,  Thomas  McElroy,  "William 
Seymour,  John  0.  Cole,  John  L.  Wendell,  Conrad  A.  Ten  Eyck, 
John  Davis,  Israel  Williams,  Charles  D.  Gould,  John  Trotter, 
Arnold  Nelson,  John  Groesbeck,  Oliver  Steele  and  Philip  S.  Van 
Rensselaer.  These  were  very  distinguished  men,  for  the  list  in- 
cludes a  United  States  Senator  and  no  less  than  three  gentlemen 
who  subsequently  represented  their  country  as  Ambassadors  at 
foreign  courts.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  nominate  a  faculty, 
and  at  the  next  meeting,  through  Judge  Harris,  reported  the  fol- 
lowing: Alden  March,  Professor  of  Surgery;  James  H.  Armsby, 
Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology;  Amos  Dean,  Professor  of 
Medical  Jurisprudence;  Ebenezer  Emmons,  Professor  of  Chem- 
istry and  Pharmacy;  Henry  Greene,  Professor  of  Obstetrics; 
David  M.  McLachlan,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica;  and  later, 
David  M.  Reese,  Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine. 

The  reconstruction  of  the  building  was  immediately  begun,  and 
by  September,  1838,  the  work  was  practically  completed.  During 
the  first  two  years  over  $10,000,  contributed  by  citizens  of  Albany, 
was  expended  on  the  building,  and  the  museum  was  opened  to  the 
public.  Drs.  March  and  Armsby  contributed  all  their  anatomical 
and  pathological  preparations,  and  many  of  these  remain  to-day 
as  perfect  as  when  first  installed.  Dr.  March's  collections  dated 
from  the  beginning  of  his  professional  career  and  formed,  by  them- 
selves, quite  an  extensive  museum  when  the  college  opened.  From 
year  to  year  he  added  to  it  until  it  became  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  valuable  private  collections  ever  made  in  this  country.  When 
first  opened  to  the  public  the  museum  was  crowded  with  curious 
and  interested  visitors,  and  it  did  much  to  educate  the  people  and 
dispel  the  prejudice  which  had  long  existed  against  the  dissection 
of  the  human  body  and  the  preservation  of  its  parts  for  purposes 
of  medical  instruction.  During  three  years  Dr.  Armsby  resided 
in  the  college  and  devoted  his  entire  time  to  the  preparation  of 
specimens  and  building  up  the  museum.  Both  he  and  Dr.  March 
made  repeated  visits  to  Europe,  and  brought  home  with  them  many 
additions  to  the  collection  and,  later.  Dr.  McNaughton's  valuable 
collection,  made  during  twenty  years  of  teaching  at  Fairfield,  was 
added,  and  the  museum  became,  and  continued  for  many  years  to 
be,  the  largest  and  most  valuable  in  the  United  States,  and  excelled 
by  but  few  in  Europe. 

The  college  was  chartered  by  the  legislature  by  an  act  passed 
February  16,  1839,  creating  a  corporation  under  the  name  of  the 
Albany  Medical  College,  and  naming  the  persons  to  act  as  trus- 
tees.  It  authorized  the  corporation  to  hold  property  to  the  amount 


628 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


of  $100,000,  and  empowered  the  trustees  to  appoint  professors 
and  confer  the  de^ee  of  Doctor  of  Medicine,  and  made  the  diploma 
a  license  to  practice  medicine. 

In  1841  the  legislature  appropriated  to  the  college  the  sum  of 
$5,000  a  year  for  three  successive  years,  "to  be  expended  for 
additions  and  improvements  to  the  college  buildings,  museum, 
chemical  and  philosophical  apparatus,  and  for  the  purchase  of  a 
library,"  with  the  provision  that  the  school  should  admit  to  its 
course  of  instruction  annually,  and  free  of  all  charges,  '*so  many 
indigent  students,  not  exceeding  one  from  each  of  the  first,  second, 
third  and  fourth  senate  districts,  as  shall  be  recommended  for  that 
purpose  by  the  board  of  censors  of  the  State  Medical  Society  for 
such  districts, ' '  and  this  the  college  continued  to  do  until  the  boards 
were  abolished  by  the  society  many  years  later,  when  its  by-laws 
were  revised.  Indeed,  in  its  desire  to  comply  with  the  law,  and 
recognizing  the  fact  that  some  of  its  best  students  and  most  dis- 
tinguished graduates  had  been  beneficiaries  under  this  law,  it  con- 
tinued to  receive  such  students  so  long  as  the  surviving  members 
of  the  old  boards  of  censors  chose  to  recommend  them. 

Again,  in  1844,  the  legislature  appropriated  to  the  college  the 
sum  of  $1,000  a  year  for  five  years  to  be  expended  for  similar 
purposes,  and  while  such  grants  seem  small  as  compared  with  lat- 
ter-day benefactions  to  similar  institutions,  they  were  very  helpful 
to  the  school  and  enabled  it  to  make  large  additions  to  its  museum, 
its  scientific  collections  and  apparatus,  and  to  build  up  a  valuable 
library  which  was,  for  many  years,  one  of  the  best  of  its  kind  in 
this  part  of  the  country.  Indeed,  this  library  became  the  nucleus 
of  the  medical  division  of  the  New  York  State  Library,  for  the 
college  donated  its  library  to  the  State  when  this  division  was 
established,  believing  that  it  would  thus  be  of  much  greater  use 
to  their  students,  and  to  the  medical  profession,  than  if  they  con- 
tinued to  maintain  it  in  the  school. 

The  building  which  has  been  described  has  been  continuously 
occupied  by  the  college  until  the  present  time.  For  many  years 
it  was  leased  by  the  city  to  the  institution  at  a  nominal  rental, 
but  in  1874  differences  arose,  attacks  were  made  upon  the  school 
by  certain  opponents,  the  site  was  suggested  as  a  desirable  one  for 
the  new  high  school  building  which  it  was  proposed  to  erect,  and 
after  much  discussion  the  college  was  allowed  to  retain  possession 
under  a  new  lease  executed  by  the  city  but  at  an  annual  rental  of 
$2,000.  About  1850  the  building  had  been  enlarged  by  the  addi- 
tion of  wings  at  either  end,  chiefly  with  a  view  to  affording  accom- 
modations for  various  departments  of  the  University  of  ^  Albany 
which  had  been  organized  and  incorporated  about  this  time. 
Courses  of  instruction  were  to  be  given  by  various  eminent  scien- 
tists on  such  subjects  as  Agriculture  by  Professor  John  P.  Norton, 
Geology  by  Professor  James  Hall,  Astronomy  by  Professor  0.  M. 
Mitchell,  and  others  no  less  renowned,  and  a  Law  School  had  been 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


629 


organized  and  opened  in  December,  1851.  The  Albany  Medical 
College  was  to  constitute  the  medical  department  of  this  university, 
and  other  departments  were  projected.  Some  of  these,  like  the 
Law  School  and  Dudley  Observatory,  have  survived  and,  like 
the  medical  school,  have  been  prominent  and  successful  institu- 
tions, but  the  scientific  schools,  as  of  agriculture,  never  material- 
ized, and  the  parent  institution,  the  University  of  Albany,  after 
maintaining  a  nominal  existence  for  a  time,  suspended  its  activi- 
ties and  ceased  to  be,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  although  its  existence 
was  implied  in  the  announcements  of  both  the  medical  college  and 
law  school  which  continued  to  appear  under  the  caption  ''Uni- 
versity of  Albany ' '  until  the  incorporation  of  Union  University  in 
1873  and  their  affiliation  therewith.  Of  the  two  wings  which  were 
added  to  the  building,  that  on  Jay  street  was  occupied  by  the  Law 
School  until  1879,  when  it  moved  to  its  present  building  on  State 
street.  The  other  wing,  on  Lancaster  street,  was  built  for  a  chem- 
ical laboratory,  was  rebuilt  in  1884,  when  another  story  was  added, 
and  it  has  been  occupied  as  such  ever  since.  In  1883  the  central 
part  of  the  building  was  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  a  fourth 
story  for  the  use  of  the  anatomical  department,  and  when  the  law 
school  vacated  its  quarters  the  south  wing  was  converted  into  a 
lecture  room,  known  as  ''Alumni  Hall,"  and  it  was  subsequently 
used  as  a  histological  and  pathological  laboratory,  and,  later,  as  a 
laboratory  of  physiological  chemistry.  In  1877  the  property  was 
purchased  from  the  city  by  the  corporation  for  $12,000,  subject  to 
a  non-interest  bearing  mortgage  of  $10,000  which  became  a  lien 
upon  the  property  in  case  it  ceased  to  be  used  as  a  medical  school. 
The  trustees  borrowed  the  money  with  which  to  make  the  purchase 
from  one  of  the  banks  on  a  mortgage,  which  was  gradually  paid 
by  the  faculty  from  their  earnings,  and  certain  members  of  the 
faculty  eventually  became  the  owners  of  the  mortgage.  The  fac- 
ulty had  been  organized  as  a  corporation  for  this  purpose,  and  the 
members  received  scrip  certificates,  representing  their  respective 
pro  rata  ownership,  issued  to  them  by  the  trustee  of  the  corpora- 
tion of  the  faculty,  who  was  also  trustee  of  the  college  and  secre- 
tary of  the  board,  and  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  lectures 
delivered,  or  other  college  duties  performed,  by  them  as  members 
of  the  faculty.  This  was  all  done  in  good  faith  and  was,  probably, 
the  only  way  in  which  the  money  could  at  the  time  have  been 
raised.  The  trustees  neither  contributed  nor  raised  any  money 
for  the  purpose,  so  that  it  amounted  to  this,  that  the  active  faculty, 
who  had  faith  in  the  institution,  served  for  several  years  without 
compensation,  but  became  owners  of  the  building  occupied  by  the 
college,  though  title  to  the  same  was  vested  in  the  trustees,  subject, 
as  stated,  to  a  second  mortgage  held  by  the  city.  And  it  came 
about  in  time  that,  as  certain  members  of  the  faculty  died,  resigned 
or  removed  from  the  city,  their  scrip  or  ' '  stock ' '  was  purchased  by 
other  members  of  the  faculty,  so  that  eventually  a  limited  number 


630 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


owned  the  greater  part  of  it.  This  was  not  a  desirable  condition 
of  affairs,  but  it  was  the  natural  result  of  a  method  of  financing 
which  had  been  adopted  when  no  better  seemed  practicable.  Those 
who  held  the  scrip  had  earned  it  by  work  done  for  the  institution, 
or  they  had  purchased  it  as  an  accommodation  from  their  col- 
leagues who  wished  to  dispose  of  it  when  it  had  in  reality  no 
market  value,  and  they  held  it  in  the  interests  of  the  school  and 
not  without  risk  to  themselves.  But  they  have  been  maligned  and 
maliciously  aspersed  from  time  to  time  by  those  who,  without 
knowledge  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  have  insinuated,  if  they  have 
not  directly  alleged,  that  certain  members  of  the  faculty  were 
enriching  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  school,  and  that  the 
institution  was  a  kind  of  stock  company  which  was  paying  divi- 
dends to  its  stockholders.  Whereas,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  school, 
by  the  self-sacrificing  labors  of  the  members  of  its  faculty,  and 
by  carefully  planned  and  most  economical  administration,  was  sup- 
porting itself  and  carrying  on  its  work  efficiently  without  endow- 
ment, pecuniary  grants  from  any  source,  or  aid  of  any  kind  from 
its  trustees.  In  1849  the  college  received  another  grant  of  $1,000 
from  the  State,  so  that  the  total  sum  raised  by  the  citizens  of 
Albany  and  by  State  appropriation  for  the  establishment  of  the 
college  was  but  $31,000. 

The  first  course  of  lectures  opened  on  January  3,  1839,  to  a  class 
of  fifty-seven  students.  The  college  had  no  charter,  nor  power  to 
confer  degrees,  and  met  with  determined  opposition  from  the  three 
other  colleges  in  the  State,  and  from  many  physicians  in  Albany. 
Nevertheless  the  citizens  generally  supported  the  undertaking, 
and  aided  the  trustees  and  faculty  in  securing  from  the  legislature 
the  act  of  incorporation.  On  the  first  Saturday  of  the  term.  Dr. 
March  inaugurated  his  surgical  clinics,  held  in  the  college,  and  at 
which  he  presented  a  large  number  of  cases  requiring  operation 
or  treatment,  and  this  new  feature  in  medical  education  which  he 
introduced  soon  came  to  be  generally  adopted  by  medical  schools 
throughout  the  country.  During  the  early  years  of  the  school, 
both  Dr.  Armsby  and  Professor  Amos  Dean  delivered  public  lec- 
tures in  the  college  amphitheatre,  which  were  largely  attended  by 
the  people  of  i^lbany,  members  of  the  legislature,  and  visitors  to 
the  city,  and  these  lectures  created  an  interest  in  the  institution 
and  aided  in  securing  both  charter  and  appropriations  from  the 
State.  As  soon  as  the  act  of  incorporation  was  passed,  the  trustees 
confirmed  the  election  of  the  faculty  and  appointed  the  following 
curators  to  take  part  in  the  annual  examinations  of  candidates  for 
degree:  Drs.  Peter  Wendell,  Piatt  Williams,  Parent  P.  Staats, 
Thomas  C.  Brinsmade  of  Troy,  and  Samuel  White  of  Hudson. 
This  board  was  appointed  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  the  char- 
ter, and  they,  or  their  successors,  continued  to  hold  an  oral  exami- 
nation of  all  candidates  for  graduation  at  the  end  of  each  session 
until  1891,  at  which  time,  on  application  of  the  faculty,  the  charter 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


631 


was  amended  and  the  board  abolished  by  the  Board  of  Regents  as 
being  no  longer  of  any  real  usefulness. 

The  first  annual  commencement  exercises  were  held  April  24, 
1839,  and  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  was  conferred  upon  the 
following  thirteen  candidates :  Jared  Bassett,  Montpelier,  Vt. ; 
Gilbert  H.  Brownell,  Northampton,  N.  Y. ;  Alfred  Cook,  Delphi, 
N.  Y. ;  Henry  Cartier,  St.  Antoine,  Canada ;  Anderson  S.  Dean, 
Cambridge,  N.  Y. ;  Almon  B.  Edmonds,  Edinburg,  N.  Y. ;  Nahum 
P.  Munro,  Belfast,  Me. ;  John  V.  Newman,  Chatham,  N.  Y. ;  Marcus 
T.  Peake,  Andes,  N.  Y. ;  William  H.  Snyder,  Jr.,  Sand  Lake, 
N.  Y. ;  Phineas  H.  Strong,  Pawlet,  Vt. ;  Rial  Strickland,  Somers, 
Ct.,  and  John  Yought,  Freehold,  N.  J. 

The  writer  remembers  several  of  these  gentlemen  very  well,  for 
some  of  them  used  to  attend  the  earlier  meetings  of  the  Alumni 
Association,  and  Dr.  Strong  served  as  president  of  the  Association 
in  1877.  All  are  now  dead,  the  last  survivors,  with  year  of  death, 
being:  Dr.  Yought,  '82;  Strong,  '90;  Snyder,  '01;  Strickland,  '03 
and  Bassett,  '05. 

The  first  faculty  of  the  college  and  their  immediate  successors 
were,  most  of  them,  illustrious  men  whose  names  are  enrolled  in 
the  history  of  American  medicine  and  science.  Dr.  March  was 
president  of  the  faculty  and  Professor  of  Surgery  from  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  school  until  his  death  in  1869,  and  stood  in  the 
forefront  of  American  surgeons,  and  Dr.  Armsby  was  no  less  dis- 
tinguished as  an  anatomist  and  most  accomplished  lecturer.  Dr. 
March  gave  ten  courses  of  lectures  at  Castleton  and  forty-one  in 
Albany,  and  Dr.  Armsby,  first  Professor  of  Anatomy,  and  of  Sur- 
gery from  1869  until  his  death  in  1875,  gave  six  courses  in  Castle- 
ton, and  forty-one  in  Albany.  Amos  Dean,  the  distinguished 
author  and  lecturer  upon  law,  held  the  professorship  of  Medical 
Jurisprudence  for  twenty  years:  Ebenezer  Emmons,  who  served 
until  1853,  was  a  scientist  of  whom  New  York  State  is  justly  proud, 
and  Greene,  McLachlan  and  Reese,  whose  terms  of  service  were 
brief,  were  able  men,  prominent  in  the  profession,  and  teachers  of 
ability. 

At  the  close  of  the  first  session,  Dr.  Greene  resigned  the  Profes- 
sorship of  Obstetrics,  and  Dr.  Gunning  S.  Bedford,  of  New  York, 
was  appointed  to  succeed  him,  and  Dr.  Thomas  Hun  was  appointed 
Professor  of  the  Institutes  of  Medicine,  as  physiology  applied  to 
medicine  was  then  called,  and  served  as  such  for  twenty  years. 
In  1840  both  Professors  Reese  and  Bedford  resigned 'and  the  former 
was  succeeded,  in  the  chair  of  practice,  by  Dr.  J ames  McNaughton, 
whose  active  connection  with  the  school  continued  until  his  death 
in  1874.  Of  this  remarkable  man  something  should  be  said.  Born 
in  Scotland,  in  1796,  he  was  educated  in  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh;  came  to  America  as  surgeon  of  an  emigrant  ship,  and 
landed  at  Quebec  in  1817 ;  visited  Albany,  where  he  had  relatives, 
and  decided  to  settle  there.   Early  in  his  career,  Private  Hamilton 


632 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


murdered  the  commander  of  his  regiment  at  "West  Troy,  was  exe- 
cuted, and  his  body  turned  over  to  the  physicians  for  dissection. 
Dr.  McNaughton  began  the  dissection,  and  exhibited  so  much  skill 
that  he  was  urged  to  complete  it,  and  this  he  did,  giving  a  series 
of  very  complete  demonstrations  which  attracted  much  attention 
in  the  profession,  since  such  occasions  were  then  rare.  How  very 
rare  they  were  it  is  hard  for  us  to  believe,  but  is  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  on  one  occasion,  and  at  about  this  time,  when  Dr.  March 
exhibited  some  of  his  preparations  to  a  respectable  country  prac- 
titioner, he  received  not  only  his  cordial  and  appreciative  thanks, 
but  was  assured  that  it  was  the  first  time  that  he  had  ever  seen  a 
human  skeleton.  Dr.  McNaughton 's  dissections  gained  him  such 
distinction  that  he  was  appointed  to  a  professorship  in  the  medical 
school  at  Fairfield,  where  he  lectured  from  1820  to  1840,  when  he 
was  appointed  professor  in  the  Albany  School,  and  so  continued 
until  1874.  This  long  service, — fifty-four  years  in  all, — distin- 
guishes him  as  one  of  the  notable  medical  teachers  of  this  country 
and  of  the  age. 

Dr.  Emmons  must  have  been  a  very  versatile  man.  Famous  as 
a  geologist,  he  had  been  educated  as  a  physician  and  practised 
medicine  for  many  years.  He  was  first  Professor  of  Chemistry  and 
Natural  History  in  the  Albany  Medical  College  from  1838  to  1839 ; 
then  of  Materia  Medica  and  Natural  History  from  1840  to  1843, 
and  then  of  Obstetrics  and  Natural  History  until  1853.  Subjects 
more  diverse  can  scarcely  be  conceived,  but  in  those  days  scientific 
men  were  omniscient,  seemingly,  and  perhaps  because  there  was 
less  to  know  at  that  time  than  there  is  nowadays.  In  1840,  when 
Dr.  Emmons  gave  up  the  chair  of  chemistry.  Dr.  Lewis  C.  Beck 
was  appointed  in  his  place,  and  the  next  year  his  brother,  Dr.  T. 
Romeyn  Beck,  was  appointed  to  succeed  Dr.  McLachlan  and  Dr. 
Emmons  in  the  chair  of  Materia  Medica.  Truly,  ''there  were 
giants  in  those  days, ' '  and  no  more  noted  men  than  the  Becks  were 
ever  connected  with  the  institution.  Dr.  Lewis  C.  Beck,  who 
served  as  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Therapeutics  from  1840  to 
1841,  and  of  Chemistry  and  Pharmacy  until  his  death  in  1853, 
was  a  man  of  commanding  talents,  who  wrote  the  great  volume  on 
mineralogy  for  the  ''Natural  History  of  the  State  of  New  York," 
and  served  as  professor  both  at  Rutgers  College  and  in  Albany  for 
years  with  great  distinction  and  unwearied  fidelity.  His  brother, 
Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  from  1842  until 
1853,  and  Emeritus  Professor  until  his  death  in  1856,  was  even 
more  widely  known.  Bom  in  Schenectady  in  1791,  he  was  grad- 
uated from  Union  College  in  1807,  and  from  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  Columbia  College  in  1811.  He  began  the  practice  of 
medicine  in  Albany,  but,  not  finding  it  to  his  taste,  abandoned  it 
for  the  study  of  science.  He  was  professor  in  the  Fairfield  school 
from  1816  to  1840,  and  was  principal  of  the  Albany  Academy 
from  1817  until  1848.    It  was  while  the  head  of  this  famous  old 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


633 


school  for  boys  that  he  wrote  his  authoritative  work  on  Medical 
Jurisprudence,"  which  gave  him  a  great  reputation  at  home  and 
abroad.  Another  brother,  Dr.  John  B.  Beck,  contributed  to  this 
monumental  work;  wrote  many  other  books,  and  was,  for  many 
years.  Professor  of  Materia  Medica  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  of  New  York. 

Dr.  Howard  Townsend  followed  Dr.  Emmons  and  Dr.  Bedford 
in  the  chair  of  Obstetrics,  serving  until  1855,  and  subsequently 
lecturing  upon  Materia  Medica  and  Physiology  until  his  death  in 
1867.  He  was  a  scholarly  and  accomplished  man  and  an  excellent 
teacher.  Dr.  Ezra  S.  Carr  followed  Dr.  L.  C.  Beck  in  the  chair 
of  Chemistry  and  Pharmacy,  which  he  filled  from  1853  to  1857, 
and  in  1855  Dr.  John  V.  P.  Quackenbush  was  appointed  Professor 
of  Obstetrics  and  of  Diseases  of  Women  and  Children,  and  so  con- 
tinued until  1870.  He  was  a  fluent  and  popular  lecturer,  and  as 
an  obstetrician  had  a  large  practice  and  widely  extended  reputa- 
tion. Dr.  Carr  was  followed  by  Dr.  Charles  H.  Porter  in  1857 
as  Professor  of  Chemistry,  and  later  of  Medical  Jurisprudence  also. 
As  a  toxicologist  he  occupied  a  prominent  position  for  years,  serv- 
ing as  an  expert  in  many  important  cases  and  contributing  to  the 
literature  of  the  subject.  When  the  War  for  the  Union  broke 
out,  he  entered  the  army  as  surgeon,  and  his  place  was  temporarily 
filled  by  Dr.  George  F.  Barker,  later  Professor  of  Chemistry  at 
Yale  and  of  Physics  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
followed,  in  1864,  by  Dr.  Jacob  S.  Mosher,  who  served  as  lecturer, 
and  afterwards  as  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  of  Medical  Juris- 
prudence from  1864  until  1870,  and  later  as  Professor  of  Medical 
Jurisprudence  and  Hygiene  from  1876  until  1882,  and  of  practice 
until  his  death  in  1883.  Dr.  Mosher  was  bom  in  1834 ;  was  for  a 
time  a  student  at  Rutgers,  taught  school  in  Albany,  entered  upon 
the  study  of  medicine,  and  was  graduated  from  the  Albany  Med- 
ical College  in  1863.  He  was  teacher  of  chemistry  in  the  Albany 
Academy  for  a  time;  served  as  surgeon  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  in  1864,  and  subsequently  as  Military  Superintendent 
and  Surgeon  in  charge  of  the  Hospital  for  Disabled  Soldiers  in 
Albany,  and  later  as  Surgeon-General  of  the  State  under  Governor 
Hoffman,  and  as  Deputy  Health  Officer  and  executive  officer  of  the 
Port  of  New  York.  For  many  years  he  was  registrar  of  the  col- 
lege, and  he  was  widely  known  and  generally  admired  and  beloved 
by  the  student  body  and  alumni.  He  was  a  very  able  and  versatile 
man,  who  filled  many  conspicuous  positions  with  distinction,  and 
his  sudden  death  in  1883  was  greatly  mourned  and  left  many  va- 
cancies which  it  was  hard  to  fill.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Alumni  Association  of  the  college  in  1884,  eulogies  were  delivered 
by  Secretary  Murray,  of  the  Board  of  Regents ;  Regent  McKelway 
and  Dr.  Samuel  B.  Ward,  which  were  printed  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  Association,  and  a  memorial  sketch  of  his  life  and  character 


634 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


by  the  present  writer  may  be  found  in  the  ''Transactions  of  the 
State  Medical  Society"  for  1885. 

Dr.  S.  Oakley  Vander  Poel  was  appointed  Professor  of  Pathol- 
ogy and  Clinical  Medicine  in  1867  and  served  until  1870,  and  he 
filled  the  chair  of  Pathology,  Practice  and  Clinical  Medicine  from 
1876  until  1882.  He  was  a  highly  educated  and  accomplished  man, 
and  an  able  teacher,  who  occupied  a  prominent  place  in  the  pro- 
fession, and  filled  many  positions  of  honor  and  trust.  Dr.  Town- 
send  was  followed,  in  the  chair  of  Physiology,  by  Dr.  James  E. 
Pomfret,  who  served  from  1867  until  his  death  in  1869,  and,  in  the 
chair  of  Materia  Medica,  by  Dr.  John  V.  Lansing,  who  served  until 
1870,  and  also  as  Professor  of  Physiology  and  Clinical  Medicine 
from  1870  until  1873,  and  of  Practice  until  1876.  He  was  a  man 
of  scholarly  tastes  and  many  accomplishments,  but  his  life  was 
saddened  by  certain  reverses  and  a  distressing  accident  and,  after 
leaving  Albany,  he  came  to  an  untimely  end  by  drowning  in  1880. 

In  1869  Dr.  March,  whose  activities  and  usefulness  had  been 
unimpaired,  died  after  a  short  illness,  and  Dr.  McNaughton  became 
president  of  the  faculty,  and  Dr.  Armsby  was  made  Professor  of 
Surgery.  The  chair  of  Anatomy  was  divided,  Dr.  Henry  R.  Has- 
kins  taking  surgical,  and  Dr.  Albert  Vander  Veer,  general  and 
descriptive  anatomy.  Dr.  Haskins  served  in  the  Department  of 
Anatomy  until  1876,  and  Dr.  Vander  Veer  until  1873.  In  1876 
Dr.  Vander  Veer  was  made  Professor  of  Principles  and  Practice 
of  Surgery,  and  he  served  in  the  Department  of  Surgery,  with 
various  titles,  until  1914,  when  he  was  made  Emeritus  Professor 
and  so  remained  until  his  resignation  in  1915. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1869,  Dr.  March  was  the  leading 
surgeon  in  this  part  of  the  country  and,  as  head  of  the  medical 
school,  he  was  unopposed.  Second  only  to  him  in  influence  and 
prominence  upon  the  faculty  was  Dr.  Armsby,  his  brother-in-law, 
who,  with  him,  had  founded  the  school.  Dr.  Armsby  was  a  very 
remarkable  man,  of  great  originality,  extraordinary  activity,  wide 
influence,  and  persistent  in  his  devotion  to  any  enterprise  with 
which  he  was  associated.  Not  only  does  the  medical  college  largely 
owe  to  him  its  very  successful  existence  but,  chiefly  by  his  unremit- 
ting efforts,  the  Albany  Hospital  was  organized  in  1851,  and  public 
interest  in  it  maintained.  By  his  individual  efforts  over  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  was  raised  for  this  institution.  To  found 
in  Albany  a  university,  with  departments  in  all  branches  of  lit- 
erature, science  and  art,  was  his  ambition,  and  his  design  was 
realized  in  part  by  the  establishment  of  the  Dudley  Observatory, 
and  the  Albany  Law  School,  in  1851.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  incorporation  of  Union  University  in  1873,  with  which  the 
Albany  Schools  of  Medicine  and  Law  and  the  Dudley  Observatory 
became  affiliated,  and  he  was  a  trustee  and  patron  of  the  Albany 
Female  Academy  and  many  other  institutions.  He  was  a  warm 
admirer  and  patron  of  art,  and  many  leading  American  artists 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


635 


owe  mucli  of  their  success  to  his  early  encouragement  and  aid.  He 
was  a  generous  contributor  of  money  and  counsel  to  all  philan- 
thropic objects,  to  enterprises  for  city  improvement,  and  to  any 
object  that  made  for  the  advancement  of  learning.  He  was  a  skil- 
ful anatomist,  an  accomplished  surgeon,  and  an  able,  graceful  and 
successful  teacher,  and  he  gave  so  much  of  his  time  and  money  to 
educational,  scientific  and  philanthropic  objects  at  the  expense  of 
his  private  interests,  that  he  died,  in  1875,  a  comparatively  poor 
man.  No  man  so  prominent  as  he  escapes  calumny  and  Armsby, 
who  did  not  readily  brook  opposition  and  was  not  always  concil- 
iatory, made  a  good  many  enemies  and  met  with  a  good  deal  of 
opposition,  but,  so  long  as  March  lived,  this  opposition  was  neither 
outspoken  nor  effective.  But  with  the  death  of  Dr.  March  it  took 
on  an  active  form,  and  his  distinguished  relative,  associate  and 
patient  was  hardly  in  his  grave  before  Armsby  was  accused  of 
negligence  in  his  surgical  treatment  of  the  case,  and  vilified  and 
most  wantonly  asailed.  Dr.  Charles  A.  Robertson  was  the  chief 
fomenter  of  discord,  and  behind  him  ranged  those  of  Armsby 's 
opponents  who,  actively  or  insidiously,  endeavored  to  bring  about 
his  downfall.  Robertson  was  a  southerner,  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
and  of  Jefferson,  served  as  surgeon  in  the  army,  and  settled  in 
Albany  as  an  ophthalmologist  in  1864.  He  was  a  bom  contro- 
versialist; wielded  a  trenchant  and  vigorous  pen;  was  a  ruthlessly 
vindictive  vilifier,  and  no  respecter  of  persons.  A  statement  con- 
cerning Dr.  March's  case  had  been  published  by  his  attending 
physicians,  and  this  was  reviewed  by  Robertson  in  his  pamphlet 
bearing  the  motto,  ''Lo,  The  Cranes  of  Ibycus."  In  this  paper 
he  accused  Armsby  of  many  offenses,  and  implied  that  he  had  killed 
his  brother-in-law  in  order  that  he  might  step  into  his  shoes.  A  lot 
of  pamphleteering  followed,  and  it  seems  incredible  that  such  vitu- 
perative malignity  should  have  received  the  notice  which  it  did, 
but  there  were  a  good  many  in  the  profession  who,  while  they 
placed  no  confidence  in  Robertson  and  did  not  credit  his  state- 
ments, were  yet  glad  to  see  Armsby  attacked  and  were  anxious 
to  see  him  deposed.  But  the  attempts  to  discredit  and  displace 
him  did  not  succeed.  Blameless  as  he  was,  he  bore  himself  with 
dignity,  and  so  long  as  he  lived  retained  the  esteem  and  confidence 
of  his  friends  and  remained  in  control  of  the  institutions  for  which 
he  had  labored  so  long,  so  zealously  and  so  unselfishly.  When  he 
died  in  1875,  no  citizen  of  Albany  was  ever  more  deeply  mourned, 
and  his  death  was  regarded  as  a  public  calamity. 

In  1870  Drs.  Vander  Poel,  Quackenbush  and  Mosher  resigned, 
and  the  following  additions  were  made  to  the  faculty :  Edmund  R. 
Peaslee,  Diseases  of  Women,  served  from  1870  until  1873 ;  Mere- 
dith Clymer,  Diseases  of  the  Nervous  System,  1870-1873 ;  William 
P.  Seymour,  Obstetrics,  1870-1876;  Ira  Harris,  Medical  Jurispru- 
dence, 1870-1874;  George  T.  Stevens,  Ophthalmology,  etc.,  1870- 
1876;  John  M.  Bigelow,  Materia  Medica,  1870-1873,  and  later, 


636 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


Therapeutics,  Laryngology,  etc.,  1876-1896,  Laryngology  and 
Rhinology  until  1899,  and  Emeritus  Professor  of  same  until  his 
death  in  1913;  Maurice  Perkins,  Chemistry,  1870-1876,  and  Or- 
ganic Chemistry  until  his  death  in  1901.  In  1874  Drs.  Vander 
Veer  and  Bigelow  resigned,  and  Dr.  Willis  G.  Tucker,  who  had 
served  as  Assistant  Professor  of  Chemistry  since  1871,  was  made 
lecturer  on  Materia  Medica  also;  Adjunct-Professor  of  same,  1875- 
1876;  Professor  Inorganic  and  Analytical  Chemistry,  1876-1887; 
of  Toxicology  also  until  1901 ;  and  of  Chemistry  and  Toxicology 
until  his  resignation  in  1915.  In  1874  Dr.  William  Hailes  was 
made  lecturer  on  Pathological  Anatomy;  in  1875  Adjunct  Pro- 
fessor of  same ;  Professor  of  Histology  and  Pathological  Anatomy, 
1876-1886 ;  with  Clinical  Surgery  until  1889 ;  with  Fractures  and 
Dislocations  until  1908 ;  and  Emeritus  Professor  of  same  until  his 
death  in  1912.  In  1875  Prof.  Harrison  E.  Webster,  of  Union  Col- 
lege,  was  made  Professor  of  Physiology,  and  served  as  such  until 
1880. 

On  the  death  of  Dr.  McNaughton  in  the  summer  of  1874,  Dr. 
Armsby  became  president  of  the  faculty,  and  the  sudden  death  of 
the  latter,  on  December  2,  1875,  was  a  great  blow  to  the  institution, 
and  was  followed  by  a  reorganization  of  the  faculty.  Drs.  Seymour 
and  Haskins  were  eliminated;  Drs.  Lansing  and  Stevens  declined 
reappointment,  and  a  faculty  of  sixteen  active  members  was  cre- 
ated. This  was  headed  by  Dr.  Thomas  Hun  as  Dean  and  Emeri- 
tus Professor,  and  included  in  the  chair  of  Practice,  S.  0.  Yander 
Poel;  Surgery,  John  Swinburne,  A.  Yander  Yeer  and  Samuel  B. 
Ward ;  Medical  Jurisprudence  and  Hygiene,  J.  S.  Mosher ;  Chemis- 
try, M.  Perkins  and  W.  G.  Tucker;  Materia  Medica,  J.  M.  Bige- 
low; Anatomy,  Lewis  Balch  and  W.  Hailes;  Psychological  Medi- 
cine, John  P.  Gray;  Nervous  Diseases,  E.  R.  Hun;  Obstetrics,  J.  Y. 
P.  Quackenbush,  who  died  June  2,  1876,  and  in  whose  place  Dr. 
James  P.  Boyd,  Jr.,  was  appointed ;  Ophthalmology,  C.  S.  Merrill ; 
and  Physiology,  H.  E.  Webster,  with  Henry  March  as  Curator  of 
the  Museum,  and  Eugene  Yan  Slyke,  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy. 
This  rather  pretentious  faculty  was  hastily  organized;  it  was 
complex,  unwieldy,  and  many  of  the  chairs  should  have  been  occu- 
pied by  adjunct  or  clinical  professors  or  lecturers,  for  the  affairs 
of  the  school  could  have  been  better  managed  by  a  smaller  execu- 
tive faculty.  But  it  included  a  good  many  prominent  men  and 
good  teachers,  and  the  members  worked  together  harmoniously  for 
many  years.  Dr.  Swinburne  was  an  able  surgeon  and  had  a  more 
than  national  reputation.  Dr.  Ward  was  a  New  Yorker,  and  had 
been  the  choice  of  the  old  faculty  as  Dr.  Armsby 's  successor.  He 
was  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Willard  Parker's;  had  served  for  a  time  in  the 
army,  and  was  Professor  of  Anatomy,  and  subsequently  of  Sur- 
gery, in  the  Woman 's  Medical  College  of  the  New  York  Infirmary. 
His  connection  with  the  school  was  terminated  only  by  his  death 
in  1915.   Dr.  Gray  was  for  many  years  medical  superintendent  of 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


637 


the  Utica  State  Asylum  far  the  Insane,  and  had  a  widely  extended 
reputation  as  an  expert  in  insanity. 

In  1873  Union  University  was  created  by  act  of  the  legislature, 
being  chapter  193,  Laws  of  1873.   With  the  close  of  the  war,  and 
the  death  of  Dr.  Nott  in  1866,  the  attendance  at  Union  College  had 
fallen  off  and  its  influence  had  declined.  Under  the  succeeding  short 
presidencies  of  Dr.  Hickok  and  Dr.  Aiken,  there  had  been  no 
improvement  and  when,  in  1871,  Dr.  Eliphalet  Nott  Potter,  a 
grandson  of  Dr.  Nott,  was  called  to  the  presidency,  efforts  were 
made  to  raise  funds  and  rehabilitate  the  institution.  It  was  thought 
that  the  organization  of  a  university,  uniting  the  College  of  Schen- 
ectady with  the  professional  schools  at  Albany,  might  be  helpful 
to  each,  but  the  Albany  representatives  in  entering  into  the  agree- 
ment were  careful  to  safeguard  the  rights  and  privileges  possessed 
by  their  institutions.  Those  who  took  part  in  the  organizations  were : 
Hon.  Ira  Harris,  President  Potter  and  Judge  W.  F.  Allen,  from 
Union  College;  Judge  A.  J.  Parker,  Robert  H.  Pruyn  and  George 
Dexter,  from  the  Medical  College;  Isaac  Edwards  and  Thomas 
W.  Olcott,  from  the  Law  School ;  and  Dr.  J.  H.  Armsby  and  H.  R. 
Pierson,  from  the  Dudley  Observatory.    As  organized,  the  Uni- 
versity consisted  of  these  four  institutions,  and  to  these  has  been 
added,  in  pursuance  of  the  provisions  of  the  original  law,  the 
Albany  College  of  Pharmacy,  created  in  1881.    By  the  charter, 
the  original  consenting  institutions  were  authorized  to  make  an 
agreement  establishing  the  university,  the  government  of  which 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  board  composed  of  representatives 
from  the  several  institutions.    But,  and  very  wisely,  the  distinct 
powers  of  the  several  bodies  thus  uniting,  relating  to  the  holding 
of  property,  conferring  of  degrees,  and  indeed  all  other  individual 
rights  and  prerogatives,  were  left  unaffected  and  entirely  undis- 
turbed by  this  union.    The  objects  sought  by  affiliation  were  the 
mutual  encouragement  to  be  derived  from  combination,  the  help 
to  be  obtained  from  the  faculties  of  the  different  schools  in  their 
common  work  of  teaching,  and  such  mutual  financial  aid  as  might 
be  found  possible.    It  was  not  thought  that  the  location  of  the 
different  institutions  in  different  places  need  interfere  with  their 
mutual  help  and  efficiency,  nor  has  it  proved  so,  but  it  can  hardly 
be  said  that  the  union  has  been  productive  of  any  very  tangible 
results.   Attempts  have  been  made  from  time  to  time  to  bring  the 
different  departments  into  closer  affiliation,  but  with  little  success, 
nor  is  any  very  close  union  possible  unless  amendments  are  made 
to  the  charter,  nor  likely  to  be  desirable  unless  the  university,  as 
such,  is  endowed  with  funds  sufficient  for  its  proper  maintenance. 
Until  such  time,  the  trustees  of  the  different  institutions  undoubt- 
edly can  best  and  most  economically  manage  their  own,  and  par- 
ticularly their  own  financial,  affairs.   The  union  has  done  no  harm 
and  has  probably  been  of  some  benefit  in  the  past  and  has  in  it 
possibilities  of  further  good  in  the  future. 


638 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


The  additions  which  have  been  made  to  the  teaching  force  of  the 
college  since  1876  have  been  very  numerous.  Many  new  positions 
have  been  created  to  meet  the  necessities  of  modem  and  enlarged 
methods  of  teaching,  but  it  is  doubtless  true  that  a  good  many 
unnecessary  appointments  have  been  made,  and  that  the  places  in 
the  different  departments  have  not  been  so  well  coordinated  as  they 
might  have  been.  From  1876  to  1915  the  more  important  additions 
to  the  faculty,  or  teaching  staff,  have  been  as  follows  and  in  the 
departments  named: 

S.  0.  Vander  Poel,  Jr.,  Practice,  1880-84;  Franklin  Townsend,  Jr., 
Physiology,  1880-91,  Emeritus  to  death  in  1895 ;  Frederic  C.  Curtis,  Derma- 
tology 1880  to  resignation  in  1915;  Henry  Hun,  Diseases  Nervous  System, 
1883  to  resignation  in  1914;  Samuel  R.  Morrow,  Surgery,  1884-87,  and 
Anatomy  to  1889,  Anatomy  and  Orthopedic  Surgery  to  1902,  Practice 
of  Surgery  and  Orthopedic  Surgery  to  resignation  in  1915;  Joseph  D. 
Craig,  Anatomy,  1890  to  resignation  in  1915;  Howard  Van  Rensselaer, 
Materia  Medica,  1890-96,  Practice  and  therapeutics,  1896-98,  Materia 
Medica,  therapeutics  and  Practice,  1898  to  resignation  in  1914;  Hermon 
C.  Gordinier,  Anatomy  Nervous  System,  1890-95,  Physiology,  1895  to 
resignation  in  1914;  Carlos  F.  MacDonald,  Insanity,  1891-92;  Willis  G. 
MacDonald,  Surgery,  1891  to  death  in  1910 ;  Herman  Bendell,  Physiology, 
1892-94,  Otologv,  1894-1915 ;  Ezra  A.  Bartlett,  Electro-therapeutics,  1892- 
96;  G.  Alder  Blumer,  Insanity,  1893-99;  Theodore  F.  C.  Van  Allen,  Oph- 
thalmology, 1894-1902;  Andrew  MacFarlane,  Physical  Diagnosis,  1895-99, 
and  Medical  Jurisprudence  to  1914,  Clinical  Medicine  and  Medical  Juris- 
prudence to  resignation  in  1915;  CUnton  B.  Herrick,  Clinical  Surgery, 

1895-  99,  Railway  Surgery,  1899-1903 ;  John  V.  Hennessy,  Materia  Medica, 

1896-  1901;  William  G.  Lewi,  Pharmacy,  1896-1900;  Leo.  H.  Neuman, 
Symptomatology,  1896-1901,  Gastro-enteric  diseases,  1901-14,  Clinical 
Medicine  to  resignation  in  1915 ;  George  Blumer,  Pathology  and  Bacteriol- 
ogy, 1897-1904;  W.  0.  Stillman,  History  of  Medicine,  1898-1915;  Arthur  G. 
Root,  Diseases  Throat  and  Nose,  1899  to  resignation,  1915;  J.  M.  Mosher, 
Insanity,  etc.,  1910-15;  H.  J.  Lipes,  Obstetrics,  1900-15;  A.  W.  Elting, 
Surgery,  1901  to  resignation,  1914;  G.  E.  Lochner,  Gynaecologv  and  Ob- 
stetrics, 1901-15;  S.  L.  Dawes,  Materia  Medica,  1902-14;  C.  F.  Theisen,  Dis- 
eases Throat  and  Nose,  1903-15;  A.  Sautter,  Dermatology,  etc.,  1903-15; 
H.  L.  K.  Shaw,  Diseases  Children,  1903-15 ;  Richard  M.  Pearce,  Pathology 
and  Bacteriology,  1904-08 ;  Edgar  A.  Vander  Veer,  Surgery,  1904  to  resig- 
nation, 1915 ;  J.  A..  Sampson,  Gyna&cology,  1906-15 ;  H.  C.  Jackson,  Physio- 
logical Chemistry,  1906-09;  L.  Archambault,  Neurology,  1907  to  resigna- 
tion, 1915;  A.  J.  Bedell,  Ophthalmology,  1908-15;  T.^Ordwav,  Pathology, 
1902-12;  V.  C.  Myers,  Physiological  Chemistry,  1909-11;  J.  W.  Wiltse, 
Dermatology,  etc.,  1909-15;  H.  J.  Bernstein,  Pathology,  etc.,  1911  to 
resignation,  1914;  J.  H.  Gutmann,  Surgery,  1911-15;  R.  W.  Keeton, 
Physiological  Chemistry,  etc.,  1912-14;  A.  H.  Travers,  Surgery,  1912-15; 
ElUs  Kellert,  Pathology,  etc.,  1914  to  resignation,  1915;  J.  B.  Harvie, 
Surgery,  1914-15;  J.  Meyers,  Materia  Medica,  etc.,  1914-15;  A.  Krida, 
Physiology,  1914-15;  Arthur  Knudson,  Physiological  Chemistry,  etc., 
1914-15. 

The  following  table  gives  a  list  of  courses  given,  with  dates  of 
commencements,  number  of  students  in  attendance,  and  of  grad- 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


639 


uates.  It  will  be  observed  that  from  1853  to  1863  two  courses  were 
generally  given  each  year: 


COMMENCEMENTS  AND  GRADUATES 


Date  of 
Comniencement 


CI 


2- 


Date  of 
Commencement 


-1 


April  24,  1839  

April  24,  1840  

February  24,  1841.. 
February  23,  1842.. 
January  24,  1843... 
January  23,  1844... 
January  21,  1845... 
January  27,  1846... 
January  26,  1847... 
January  25,  1848... 
January  23,  1849.. .  , 
January  22,  1850. . . , 
January  21,  1851. . . , 
January  27,  1852... . 
January  25,  1853. . .  . 

May  31,  1853  

December  27,  1853.. 

June  13,  1854  

December  26,  1854.. 

June  12,  1855  

December  24,  1855. . 

June  10,  1856  

December  19,  1856.. 

June  9,  1857  

December  26,  1857.. 

June  8,  1858  

December  28,  1858.. 
December  27,  1859.. 
December  26,  I860.. 
December  21,  1861. . 
December  23,  1862.. 

May  28,  1863  

December  22,  1863. . 
December  24,  1864.. 
December  25,  1865.. 
December  22,  1866. . 
December  24,  1867.. 
December  22,  1868.. 
December  23,  1869.. 
December  22,  1870. . 
December  26,  1871 . . 
December  23,  1872. . 
January  20,  1874  .  . . 


73 
122 
101 
103 
108 
108 
115 
109 
88 
96 
93 
81 
66 
58 
38 
75 
89 
76 
73 
74 
81 
56 
50 
99 
71 
65 
85 
73 
63 
98 
60 
104 
110 
111 
116 
88 
96 
76 
86 
100 
100 
107 


13 
17 
30 
28 
20 
24 
22 
42 
31 
20 
25 
24 
22 


31 
18 
40 
26 
46 
18 
27 
22 
25 
29 
40 
23 
21 
28 
22 
21 
45 
41 
53 
34 
33 
28 
27 
33 
25 
34 


44 
45 
46 
47 
48 
49 
50 
51 
52 
53 
54 
55 
56 


28  57 

19  58 

12  59 

22  60 


61 
62 
63 
64 
65 
66 
67 
68 
69 
70 
71 
72 
73 
74 
75 
76 
77 
78 
79 
80 
81 
82 
83 
84 


December  22,  1874. 
December  23,  1875. 
January  31,  1877... 
January  30,  1878... 
January  29,  1879... 

March  3,  1880  

March  2,  1881  

March  1,  1882  

March  7,  1883  

March  5,  1884  

March  4,  1885  

March  3,  1886  

March  16,  1887. . . . 
March  15,  1888..  .. 
March  21,  1889..  .. 
March  19,  1890. . . . 

April  1,  1891  

April  27,  1892  

April  26,  1893  

April  18,  1894  

April  16,  1895  

April  14,  1896  

AprU  20,  1897  

April  20,  1898  

April  19,  1899  

May  2>,  1900  

May  i,  190]  

May  6,  1902   

May  5,  1903  

May  3,  1904  

May  2,  1905  

May  1,  1906  

May  8,  1907  

May  19,  1908  

May  18,  1909  

May  17,  1910  

May  16,  1911  

May  14,  1912  

May  27,  1913  

May  26,  1914  

May  25,  1915  


116 
123 
116 
123 
153 
161 
179 
170 
157 
149 
143 
145 
145 
132 
136 
148 
163 
168 
171 
173 
204 
210 
244 
195 
154 
124 
142 
154 
165 
173 
172 
165 
195 
180 
180 
196 
208 
223 
239 
258 
173 


47 

39 

38 

31 

43 

47 

58 

54 

51 

43 

33 

40 

37 

37 

41 

37 

42 

54 

50 

44 

47 

50 

60 

57 

67 

26 

28 

26 

33 

41 

52 

32 

40 

40 

37 

41 

42 

43 

48 

52 

50 


Total  graduates  1839-1915,  2,967 


640 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


The  first  president  of  the  faculty  was  Dr.  Alden  March,  who 
served  as  such  from  1839  to  his  death  in  1869.  His  successors  have 
been :  James  McNaughton  to  death  in  1874 ;  James  H.  Armsby  to 
death  in  1875.  The  title  was  then  changed  to  Dean,  and  Dr. 
Thomas  Hun  served  as  such  until  death  in  1896,  and  was  followed 
by  Albert  Yander  Veer  to  1904;  Samuel  B.  Ward  to  1914,  and 
Willis  G.  Tucker  to  resignation  in  1915.  The  registrars  of  the 
faculty,  who  have  managed  the  finances  and  had  charge  of  the 
internal  affairs  of  the  school,  have  been :  J.  H.  Armsby,  1839-1842  ; 
Thomas  Hun  to  1853 ;  Howard  Townsend  to  1856 ;  J.  Y.  P.  Quack- 
enbush  to  1864;  J.  S.  Mosher  to  1870;  John  Y.  Lansing  to  1876; 
Jacob  S.  Mosher  to  1882;  Willis  G.  Tucker,  1882  to  1914;  Joseph 
D.  Craig,  1914  to  1915. 

The  Alumni  Association,  organized  January  20,  1874,  was  first 
proposed  by  two  members  of  the  graduating  class  of  that  year, 
Henry  B.  Whitehome  and  S.  Oscar  Myers.  The  writer  approved 
their  plan  and  cooperated  with  them  in  calling  the  first  meeting, 
and  drawing  up  a  constitution  and  by-laws,  and  he  was  elected 
first  secretary  of  the  Association,  served  as  such  for  twelve  years, 
and  was  one  of  its  incorporators.  By  the  constitution,  all  grad- 
uates of  the  college  are  declared  members  of  the  association,  the 
objects  of  which  are  to  ''promote  the  interests  of  the  Albany  Med- 
ical College  in  the  work  of  medical  education  and  to  cultivate  social 
intercourse  among  the  alumni. ' '  In  both  respects  it  has  been  very 
successful.  On  various  occasions  it  has  given  prizes  for  meritorious 
essays ;  under  its  auspices  lectures  upon  scientific  subjects  have  been 
given ;  it  secured  the  erection  of  a  bronze  bust  of  Dr.  J.  H.  Armsby 
in  Washington  Park,  which  was  dedicated  November  25,  1879 ;  it 
has  collected  and  arranged  a  large  amount  of  historical  data  relat- 
ing to  the  school  and  its  alumni,  and  at  its  annual  meetings  and 
banquets  the  graduates  of  the  school  have  been  brought  together 
in  large  numbers.  Since  1891  the  ''Albany  Medical  Annals"  has 
been  published  under  its  auspices.  The  Association  has  about  1,600 
alumni  upon  its  roll  of  members,  and  a  record  of  243  graduates 
who  served  as  volunteer  surgeons,  or  as  commissioned  officers,  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War.  The  first  president  of  the  association  was  Dr. 
Henry  D.  Didama,  Syracuse,  class  of  '46,  and  the  succeeding  presi- 
dents have  been :  J.  H.  Beech,  1875 ;  P.  H.  Strong,  1876 ;  R.  F. 
Stevens,  1877;  J.  H.  Scoon,  1878;  I.  G.  Collins,  1879;  F.  L.  R. 
Chapin,  1880;  A.  Yander  Yeer,  1881;  S.  Yan  Etten,  1882;  J.  S. 
Mosher,  1883 ;  H.  T.  Hanks,  1884 ;  H.  Bendell,  1885 ;  W.  M.  Flem- 
ing, 1886 ;  J.  H.  Helmer,  1887 ;  W.  H.  Bailey,  1888 ;  W.  C.  Wey, 
1889;  M.  H.  Burton,  1890;  H.  R.  Powell,  1891;  S.  H.  Freeman, 
1892;  W.  H.  Woodruff,  1893;  A.  T.  Yan  Yranken,  1894;  Theobald 
Smith,  18995 ;  W.  Hailes,  1896 ;  H.  B.  Maben,  1897 ;  W.  G.  Tucker, 
1898 ;  J.  H.  Mitchell,  1899 ;  T.  D.  Crothers,  1900 ;  C.  C.  Schuyler, 
1901;  W.  W.  Scofield,  1902;  J.  D.  Craig,  1903;  J.  H.  Cotter,  1904; 
C.  B.  Tefft,  1905;  T.  Wilson,  1906;  T.  H.  Willard,  1907;  F.  H. 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


641 


Brewer,  1908 ;  S.  Voorhees,  1909 ;  M.  M.  Lown,  1910 ;  W.  A.  Hall, 
1911;  A.  G.  Root,  1912;  G.  H.  Janes,  1913;  H.  L.  Chase,  1914; 
M.  J.  Lewi,  1915. 

Dr.  Tucker  served  as  secretary  until  1886  and  as  recording  sec- 
retary until  1897,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  J.  M.  Mosher ;  and 
in  1886  Dr.  E.  A.  Bartlett  was  elected  corresponding  secretary 
and  succeeded  by  C.  M.  Culver  in  1887;  J.  B.  Stonehouse,  1895; 
A.  Mac  Farlane,  1898 ;  and  J.  N.  Vander  Veer  in  1910.  The  fol- 
lowing have  served  as  treasurer:  J.  S.  Bailey,  1874;  G.  L.  Ullman, 
1875 ;  T.  W.  Nellis,  1885 ;  S.  A.  Russell,  1889 ;  T.  F.  C.  Van  Allen, 
1894;  W.  G.  Lewi,  1900;  R.  Babcock,  1901  to  date.  In  1878  the 
office  of  historian  was  created  and  has  been  filled  as  follows :  J.  B. 
Stonehouse,  1878;  E.  A.  Bartlett,  1887;  C.  E.  Davis,  1896;  H.  S. 
Pearse,  1898;  E.  E.  Hinman,  1902;  A.  J.  Bedell,  1908. 

The  Bender  Hygienic  Laboratory,  established  in  1895,  was 
opened  in  the  fall  of  1896,  and  although  a  separate  institution,  has 
been  operated  in  conjunction  with  the  medical  college,  the  two 
institutions  being  intimately  associated  and  interdependent.  The 
director  of  the  Bender  Laboratory  has  always  been  a  member  of 
the  college  faculty,  and  the  college  has  provided  most  of  the  lab- 
oratory equipment,  and  for  many  years  paid  the  salaries  of  its 
staff.  In  this  laboratory,  until  very  recently,  all  of  the  instruction 
in  histology,  embryology,  bacteriology  and  pathological  anatomy 
has  been  given,  and  a  very  large  amount  of  work  has  been  done 
under  contracts  with  the  State  and  city  boards  of  health,  and 
for  the  hospitals  of  the  city  and  members  of  the  profession  in 
Albany  and  neighboring  places.  Much  research  work  has  been 
carried  on,  and  the  scientific  publications  of  the  laboratory  have 
been  numerous  and  important.  Working  in  harmony  with  the 
medical  school,  and  operated  practically  as  an  integral  part  of  it, 
this  laboratory  has  been  of  inestimable  value  to  the  college  in  its 
work  of  education  and  it  has  been  of  great  service  to  the  people 
of  Albany  and  its  vicinity  and  indeed  to  the  State.  The  following 
have  been  the  directors  since  its  establishment:  Dr.  George 
Blumer,  1896-1904;  Dr.  Richard  Mills  Pearce,  1904-1908;  Dr. 
Thomas  Ordway,  1909-1912;  Dr.  Harry  Saul  Bernstein,  1912-1914; 
Dr.  Ellis  Kellert,  1914. 

In  the  matter  of  the  medical  student  preliminary  education  re- 
quirement, as  also  in  the  raising  of  medical  education  standards, 
and  the  passage  of  laws  providing  for  the  examination  and  licen- 
sing of  graduates  in  medicine  by  the  State,  the  record  of  the 
Albany  Medical  College  will  show  that  it  has  been  a  leader  in  all 
the  advances  which  have  been  made.  As  early  as  1876,  and  four- 
teen years  before  the  law  providing  for  the  preliminary  education 
of  medical  students  became  operative,  the  school  adopted  and  en- 
forced an  entrance  examination  requirement:  the  faculty  of  the 
school  aided  in  securing  the  passage  of  the  medical  examining  and 
licensing  laws ;  and  the  need  of  a  State  licensing  board,  independ- 


642 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


ent  of  the  colleges,  was  urged  at  a  meeting  of  the  Alumni  Associa- 
tion in  1880  which  was  met  by  appropriate  legislation  thirteen 
years  later.  The  writer,  being  registrar  of  the  college,  served  as 
a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Medical  Examiners  from  1882  to 
1891,  as  did  other  members  of  the  faculty,  and  the  author  of  an 
historical  sketch  of  the  school  published  in  the  Americcm  University 
Magazine  in  May,  1897,  very  justly  says: 

The  additional  requirement  of  this  [examining  and  licensing]  law 
and  of  other  statutes  directed  to  the  improvement  of  the  status  of  the 
medical  profession,  have  always  been  promptly  met  and  often  anticipated 
by  the  rules  of  the  college.  Without  endowment,  and  without  other 
resources  than  the  income  from  its  matriculates,  the  college  has  always 
maintained  the  highest  possible  standard.  The  wisdom  of  this  course 
has  been  attested  by  the  loyalty  of  its  alumni,  the  respect  of  its  friends, 
and  the  growth  of  its  classes.  For  three  generations  it  has  had  a  vigor- 
ous and  honorable  career.  Its  future  is  no  less  assured  than  its  past.  As 
long  as  pride  in  literary  and  scientific  culture  shall  be  characteristic  of 
the  city  of  its  home,  so  long  shall  the  Albany  Medical  College  exist. 

The  record  made  by  the  graduates  of  the  college  before  the  exam- 
ining and  licensing  boards  of  this  and  other  States  has  been,  for 
many  years,  an  excellent  and  most  gratifying  one,  and  this  despite 
imperfections  in  the  methods  adopted  by  the  boards  in  the  conduct 
of  their  examinations,  and  errors  and  inconsistencies  in  the  tabula- 
tion of  the  results  by  the  boards,  and  by  the  ' '  Council  on  Medical 
Education"  of  the  American  Medical  Association  which  has  col- 
lected and  collated  the  statistics  for  the  entire  country,  and  pub- 
lished them  annually  in  tabulated  form  in  the  A.  M.  A.  Journal. 
In  1905,  of  fifty-one  schools  having  fifty  or  more  graduates  exam- 
ined in  various  States,  the  Albany  Medical  College  was  one  of  only 
three  schools  which  had  no  candidates  rejected.  Fifty-six  of  its 
graduates  were  examined  in  seven  States,  and  all  passed.  In  1906 
thirty-seven  graduates  of  1901-6,  inclusive,  were  examined  in  five 
States  and  all  but  one  passed.  In  1907  forty-three  graduates  of 
1902-7,  inclusive,  were  examined  and  two  failed.  In  1908  forty- 
five  graduates  of  1903-8  were  examined  in  four  States  and  all 
passed.  In  1909  thirty-seven  graduates  of  1905-9  were  examined 
and  three  failed,  and  in  1910  out  of  forty-two  graduates  of  1906-10 
three  failed.  For  the  six  years  ending  in  1910,  the  percentage  of 
failures  of  recent  graduates,  meaning  those  of  the  preceding  five 
or  six  years,  as  reported  by  the  A.  M.  A.,  has  been  3.7,  while  the 
average  percentage  of  failures  for  all  the  medical  schools  of  the 
country  was  14.9  in  1910.  Not  very  much  importance,  however, 
should  be  attached  to  these  figures,  for  the  examination  methods 
in  the  various  States  are  so  different,  and  in  many  cases  so  imper- 
fect and  unsatisfactory,  and  the  method  employed  in  tabulating 
the  results  by  the  American  Medical  Association  is  so  irrational 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


643 


and  unjust,  that  the  data  are  of  little  value.  For  example,  in  the 
A.  M.  A.  reports  the  same  individual  is  counted  over  and  over 
again  in  some  cases,  so  that  for  the  six  years  ending  in  1912  there 
was  reported  the  examination  of  308  A.  M.  C.  graduates,  although 
only  243  had  received  its  diploma.  That  is,  26  per  cent  more  men 
were  reported  as  having  been  examined  by  boards  than  had  been 
graduated  from  the  college.  Such  methods  of  collecting  and  tabu- 
lating statistics  are  entirely  unreliable,  and  often  highly  mislead- 
ing and  unjust.  Unavailing  protests  have  been  made  against  such 
methods  because  some  of  these  misleading  figures  have  been  used 
by  those  unfriendly  to  the  school,  as  proof  of  inefficiency,  in  recent 
attacks  upon  the  school,  although  its  record  has  been  consistently 
good  and  continuously  creditable.  It  is  certainly  a  very  unfor- 
tunate thing,  which  threatens  the  usefulness,  and  in  some  cases  the 
very  existence,  of  our  educational  institutions,  that  irresponsible 
associations  and  corporations,  having  no  jurisdiction,  may  yet  by 
influence  derived  from  mere  wealth  or  size  interfere  with,  dictate 
to  and,  in  a  measure,  regulate  independent  schools,  as  of  medicine, 
which  are  in  no  way  answerable  to  them,  and  which  they  have  no 
legal  right  in  any  way  to  manage  or  control. 

The  course  which  the  Carnegie  Foundation  has  pursued,  and  its 
treatment  of  the  medical  schools,  is  illustrative  of  what  has  been 
said,  and  its  investigation  of  the  Albany  Medical  College  is  typical 
of  that  kind  of  outside  interference  which  hajs  done  much  harm 
and  threatens,  unless  controlled,  to  do  a  great  deal  more.  No  his- 
tory of  this  school,  however  brief,  can  omit  mention  of  this  investi- 
gation, which  was  productive  of  no  good  result  whatever,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  did  it  irreparable  injury.  The  school  had  never 
applied  to  the  Foundation  for  advice  or  assistance;  was  in  no 
way  answerable  to  it,  and  the  Foundation  had  no  jurisdiction  in 
the  premises.  Nevertheless  the  registrar  received  a  call  by  tele- 
phone, January  27,  1910,  from  Mr.  Abraham  Flexner  requesting 
that  he  meet  him  at  nine  o  'clock.  He  was  busily  engaged,  but  other 
matters  were  put  aside  and  Mr.  Flexner  was  courteously  received 
and  everything  was  exhibited  to  him,  and  even  the  college  books 
put  at  his  disposal.  He  was  given  every  opportunity  to  make 
a  proper  inspection  of  the  school,  the  Bender  Laboratory,  the  hos- 
pitals, dispensaries  and  other  institutions  used  by  the  college  in 
its  work  of  instruction,  but  he  contented  himself  with  a  hasty  glance 
here  and  there  and  hurried  back  to  New  York  by  a  mid-day  train. 
His  report  on  the  school  may  be  found  at  page  265  of  Bulletin  No, 
Four  and  it  is  evident  that  he  found  more  time  to  advise  with 
those  unfriendly  to  the  school  than  with  its  faculty,  friends  and 
supporters,  for  the  report  is  unfriendly,  unfair,  incomplete  and, 
indeed,  distinctly  hostile  in  its  tone.  The  faculty  was  assured 
that  a  proof  of  the  report  would  be  submitted  to  them  for  sug- 
gestions before  printing  but  this  was  done  at  such  a  time  and  in 
such  a  manner  that  no  revision  was  possible  and,  despite  a  unani- 


644 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


mously  voiced  protest  from  the  faculty,  the  report  was  published 
essentially  as  first  written.  It  is  filled  with  flippant  and  unwar- 
ranted judgments  and  is  based  on  hastily  formed  opinions  resting 
upon  careless  observation  and  preconceived  opinions  and  preju- 
dices. Matters  which  have  occupied  the  attention  of  educators 
and  leading  Albanians  for  years  are  passed  upon  out  of  hand 
with  superficial  flippancy,  as  for  example  the  organization  of 
Union  University  (pp.  13-141)  ;  the  financing  of  the  Bender  Labora- 
tory (pp.  80-138)  ;  the  reference  to  medical  politics  and  cliques 
(p.  112),  and  the  statement  that  another  college  and  Albany 
''have  no  books  at  all"  (p.  82),  whereas  the  fact  is  that  the 
Albany  school  presented  its  library  to  the  state  as  the  founda- 
tion of  the  medical  division  of  the  State  Library  and  that  its 
students  have  admirable,  if  not  unequaled,  facilities  for  library 
study  and  research.  The  statements  on  p.  265  as  to  laboratory 
facilities  are  incorrect,  misleading  and  unjustified  by  the  facts  in 
the  case,  and  whereas  the  statement  made  concerning  the  anatom- 
ical department  is  that  there  are  ''a  few  charts,  models,  etc.,"  the 
fact  is  that  the  museum  is  richly  supplied  with  illustrative  material 
of  all  kinds,  and  with  charts,  plates  and  slides  for  screen  demon- 
stration in  good  condition,  and  great  abundance,  which  are  in  con- 
stant use.  But  Mr.  Flexner  gave  not  a  moment  of  his  time  to 
any  inspection  of  these  but  hurried  away  to  take  a  glimpse  of  the 
Bender  Laboratory  and  a  glance  at  one  of  the  hospitals  and  one 
of  the  dispensaries,  and  then  back  to  New  York  to  write  a  report 
in  which  he  sets  it  down  that  ' '  the  schools  of  Buffalo,  Albany  and 
Brooklyn  belong  to  the  past"  (p.  276). 

This  action  of  the  Carnegie  Foundation  hurt  the  school  mate- 
rially. It  was  not  that  the  citizens  of  Albany,  the  alumni,  or 
friends  of  the  college  in  general,  were  much  affected  by  it,  but  it 
injured  its  reputation  in  educational  circles,  with  state  examining 
boards  and  similar  bodies,  supplied  those  unfriendly  with  material 
on  which  to  base  further  attacks,  and  made  it  difficult  to  secure 
pecuniary  or  other  support  for  the  school.  Meantime  the  school 
had  never  been  more  efficient,  better  organized  and  maintained, 
never  better  supported  by  its  alumni,  nor  had  its  classes  ever  been 
so  large.  It  would  be  difficult  to  select  a  case  that  would  better 
illustrate  the  damage  that  may  be  inflicted  upon  a  well-established 
and  well-organized,  reputable,  going  institution  by  the  unwar- 
ranted interference  and  attack  made  upon  it  by  an  outside  and 
irresponsible  body,  possessed  of  no  authority,  hostile  in  its  attitude, 
suggesting  no  remedy  for  the  imperfections  it  alleged  to  have 
discovered,  and  proffering  neither  aid  nor  useful  advice.  Our 
educational  institutions  have  indeed  fallen  upon  evil  days  in  that 
they  are  exposed  to  such  assaults  as  this,  and  the  Albany  medical 
school  is  but  one  of  many  which  have  suffered.  The  people,  and 
especially  is  it  true  here  in  the  East,  seem  as  yet  hardly  to  realize 
the  existing  danger  to  our  schools,  colleges  and  professional  insti- 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


645 


tutions,  which  is  a  grave  aad  menacing  one  threatening  their  very- 
existence  if  this  unwarranted  interference  is  not  opposed. 

In  1907  some  additions  were  made  to  the  regular  or  voting  fac- 
ulty which  were  opposed  by  the  minority,  and  this  led  to  various 
attempts  to  define  more  accurately  the  regular  professorships,  with 
better  coordination  in  the  different  departments,  and  gradual 
reduction  of  the  number  of  positions  on  the  executive  faculty.  The 
faculty  eventually  adopted  a  plan  which  was  recommended  to  the 
trustees  but,  as  it  was  not  unanimously  approved  by  the  faculty, 
a  conference  of  the  faculty  and  trustees  was  held  which  resulted  in 
the  adoption  in  1912  by  the  trustees  of  certain  new  by-laws  provid- 
ing for  nine  departments  and  prescribing  the  method  by  which 
appointments  thereafter  should  be  made.  These  appeared  to  be 
satisfactory  to  the  faculty  and  they  constituted  a  working  agree- 
ment between  the  trustees  and  faculty  and,  although  the  trustees 
subsequently  made  very  radical  changes  in  the  faculty  organiza- 
tion, the  faculty  never  received  any  information  that  these  by-laws 
had  been  rescinded  or  even  in  any  respect  amended.  At  this  time 
the  faculty  were  making  a  determined  effort  to  raise  funds  for  the 
erection  of  new  buildings.  They  had  secured  from  the  County  a 
plot  of  ground  on  Delaware  avenue;  had  made  a  contribution  of 
$10,000  to  the  building  fund  in  hands  of  the  trustees;  had  raised 
nearly  $18,000  for  a  MacDonald  memorial  which  was  to  form  part 
of  the  building  fund,  and  they  had  caused  plans  to  be  drawn  and 
estimates  made  for  new  buildings.  In  addition  to  these  funds 
the  trustees  had  in  their  hands  nearly  $10,000  which  had  been 
given  to  the  building  fund  by  an  alumnus  of  the  school  and  other 
friends  of  the  faculty  which  was  planning  an  active  campaign 
to  raise  money  for  the  school.  All  this  had  been  accomplished 
without  any  financial  aid  from  the  trustees  who,  so  far  as  known 
during  fifty  years  and  up  to  1915,  had  never  contributed  anything 
to  the  support  of  the  school. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  although  the  Board  of 
Governors  of  Union  University  is  possessed  of  no  real  control  of 
the  various  departments  the  closer  affiliation  of  these  departments 
has  often  been  discussed.  In  1914  a  committee,  made  up  of  repre- 
sentatives from  the  different  institutions,  was  appointed  to  con- 
sider the  matter  and  several  meetings  were  held  at  which  there 
was  much  acrimonious  discussion  but  nothing  was  accomplished 
since  the  Albany  institutions  were  not  disposed  to  relinquish  the 
control  of  their  own  affairs  without  substantial  reason,  and  as  it 
was  seen  that  no  real  change  in  administration  could  be  made  un- 
less the  charter  was  amended  by  the  legislature  or  Regents  the 
committee  was  discharged  from  further  consideration  of  the  mat- 
ter at  the  next  meeting  of  the  governors  and  the  matter  was 
dropped. 

The  discussion  of  this  matter,  however,  had  an  important  influ- 
ence upon  the  affairs  of  the  school.   In  the  natural  order  of  things 


646 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


several  members  of  the  faculty,  who  had  served  for  thirty  or  forty 
years,  resigned  their  active  professorships  and  this  seemed  to 
afford  the  desired  opportunity  for  two  or  three  other  members, 
who  had  been  of  the  minority  that  opposed  the  addition  of  the 
new  members  in  1907,  to  demand  a  change  in  college  management 
with  resignation  of  the  entire  faculty,  rearrangement  of  the  de- 
partments, and  appointment  of  a  new  faculty  by  the  ''university" 
in  some  way  which  was  not  even  suggested  and  certainly  was  not 
feasible.   These  gentlemen,  constituting  but  a  very  small  minority 
of  the  then  existing  faculty,  failing  to  convert  the  majority  to 
their  view,  thereupon  resigned  in  the  summer  of  1914.  These 
withdrawals  were  regretted  but  they  did  not  seriously  impair  the 
efficiency  of  the  faculty.   The  majority  had  made  every  reasonable 
concession  to  the  wishes  of  the  minority  but  to  no  purpose  since 
three  members  (in  reality  but  two  since  one  had  no  intention  of 
remaining)  demanded,  as  their  ultimatum,  the  resignation  of  all! 
To  have  complied  would  have  destroyed  the  school.   No  new  plan 
had  been  formed,  or  even  proposed,  nor  had  authority  to  appoint 
a  new  faculty  been  vested  in  any  other  board  than  that  which 
had  always  possessed  it, — that  is,  in  the  trustees  of  the  school,  and 
they,  speaking  through  their  vice-president  in  the  absence  of  the 
president,  advised  the  faculty  to  fill  the  vacancies  in  the  prescribed 
manner,  and  assured  the  faculty  of  their  support.  It  was  a  trying 
time.    The  middle  of  July  had  come  and  if  the  entire  faculty  had 
resigned  no  one  stood  ready  to  effect  a  reorganization  nor  could 
such  have  been  brought  about  in  time  for  reopening  the  school  in 
September,  and  if  its  doors  had  not  reopened  then  they  would  prob- 
ably have  remained  closed  forever.   Those  who  stood  by  the  school 
in  the  summer  of  1914,  in  the  face  of  the  strong  opposition  of  a 
small  minority,  saved  the  institution.    The  existing  faculty  was 
the  legally  constituted  and  properly  appointed  faculty,  and  the- 
immediate  need  was  only  that  a  few  places  should  be  filled.  A 
meeting  of  the  entire  teaching  staff  was  held,  at  which  more  than 
forty  were  present,  and  only  one  withdrew  his  support,  and, 
assured  by  the  trustees  of  their  approval  and  support,  vacancies 
were  filled,  the  staff  well  organized  and  the  writer,  who  was  acting 
dean,  was  chosen  dean  until  such  time  as  a  successor  occupying 
one  of  the  medical  chairs  should  be  selected.    The  school  opened 
at  the  usual  time  in  September  with  a  smaller  entering  class  as 
anticipated  on  account  of  the  raised  entrance  requirement  but 
with  a  total  attendance  of  173.    The  teaching  staff  consisted  of 
eleven  full  professors,  twelve  clinical  and  three  adjunct-professors, 
twenty-seven  lecturers,  including  five  special  lecturers  from  the 
State  Department  of  Health,  and  fifty-six  instructors  and  clinical 
assistants.    Need  there  was  of  some  additions  and  changes,  and 
of  the  appointment  of  one  or  two  more  full-time  teachers,  and 
these  were  under  consideration,  but  that  the  work  of  the  year  was 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


647 


efficiently  done  is  evidenced  by  the  results  of  the  licensing  exami- 
nations, if  any  value  is  to  be  given  to  these,  for,  of  the  graduating 
class  of  this  year  (1914-15)  taking  state  board  examinations  the 
percentage  of  failures  was  8.8,  while  for  Cornell  it  was  6.7,  for 
Syracuse  11.1,  for  Columbia  11.8,  and  for  the  ten  schools  of  the 
State  averaged  12.87  per  cent. 

In  October,  1914,  a  conference  was  held  at  the  office  of  the  vice- 
president  of  the  board  of  trustees,  at  which  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  board  and  certain  members  of  the  faculty  were  pres- 
ent, to  consider  the  needs  and  condition  of  the  school,  and  on 
November  30  ainother  conference  was  held  at  which  both  the  presi- 
dent and  vice-president  of  the  board  were  present,  and  plans  which 
the  faculty  were  making  for  raising  funds  were  discussed.  At 
neither  of  these  conferences  was  anything  said  or  implied  to  the 
faculty  representatives  which  indicated  that  the  trustees  contem- 
plated withdrawing  their  support,  or  were  other  than  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  efforts  which  the  faculty  were  making  to  carry 
on  and  strengthen  the  school.  And  in  conformity  with  sugges- 
tions made  at  the  second  conference,  meetings  of  the  trustees  and 
faculty  were  held  on  December  19  and  21  at  which  plans  were 
presented  by  well-known  campaign  promoters  for  raising  funds. 
At  the  first  of  these  meetings  several  trustees  were  present  but 
exhibited  little  interest  in  the  matter  and  at  the  second  meeting 
only  one  was  present.  A  few  days  later  the  faculty  were  informed 
that  the  trustees  deemed  it  unadvisable  ''at  present  to  enter  into 
a  contract  for  a  public  campaign  for  funds.'*  At  the  second  of 
these  meetings  the  secretary  of  the  trustees  handed  to  the  dean 
a  paper  requesting  the  faculty  to  ''take  prompt  steps  to  recommend 
to  the  board"  a  dean,  and  stating  that  a  sub-committee  of  three  had 
been  appointed  to  act  with  the  faculty  in  the  matter.  The  com- 
munication was  a  surprising  one  because,  while  it  recognized  the 
fact  that  the  nomination  should  originate  with  the  faculty,  it  indi- 
cated that  the  trustees  were  disposed  to  take  the  initiative  in 
any  selection  which  was  to  be  made.  One  or  two  hastily  called 
conferences  were  held  but  after  that  of  December  30,  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  faculty  was  not  requested,  and  in  the  action  subse- 
quently taken  the  faculty  had  no  voice. 

On  February  15,  1915,  the  trustees  notified  the  faculty  that  they 
were  prepared  to  appoint  a  dean  and  to  meet  the  deficits  of  reve- 
nue under  a  plan  proposed  for  a  period  of  five  years  and  until  an 
endowment  should  be  raised.  This  was  a  surprising  burst  of 
activity  since  the  trustees  had  never  contributed  anything 
heretofore  to  the  support  of  the  school,  but  the  reference  to  their 
action  as  a  plan  "proposed"  for  the  "consideration"  of  the  fac- 
ulty meant  nothing  since  a  dean  had  already  been  appointed,  by 
a  method  entirely  unprecedented,  and  in  advance  of  the  existence 
of  any  vacancy  in  the  office.    Thus  were  past  precedents,  by-laws 


648 


MEDICINE  IN  NEW  YORK 


and  agreements,  swept  aside  in  the  precipitate  and  questionable 
exercise  of  a  technical  right.  The  dean  of  the  faculty,  who  had 
never  desired  to  retain  the  office  permanently,  promptly  tendered 
his  resignation.  Early  in  March  a  conference,  so-called,  of  faculty 
and  trustees  was  held  at  which  was  presented  a  plan  for  ' '  reorgan- 
ization" calling  for  the  resignation  of  the  entire  faculty  and  the 
appointment  of  a  dean  with  power  to  appoint  a  new  one  and 
administer  the  affairs  of  the  school.  That  a  proposal  so  revolu- 
tionary and  unprecedented  should  have  been  approved  by  any 
self-respecting  body  of  teachers  could  hardly  have  been  expected, 
and  adjournment  was  taken  for  a  few  days  during  which  time  the 
faculty  prepared  a  statement  of  their  case  for  consideration  at 
the  conference  to  which  adjournment  has  been  taken.  But  this 
conference  was  never  held,  for  the  trustees,  learning  of  the  action 
taken  by  the  faculty,  refused  to  meet  with  the  faculty  and  sent  them 
a  communication  demanding  their  resignations.  Had  the  faculty 
complied  with  this  request  by  tendering  their  resignations, 
to  take  effect  immediately,  the  doors  of  the  school  must  have  been 
closed,  and  they  would,  in  all  probability,  never  have  been  reopened. 
But  the  faculty  remained  at  their  posts  without  further  argument 
or  protest,  having  tendered  their  resignations  as  demanded,  carried 
on  the  work  of  the  school  successfully  to  the  close  of  the  session,, 
and  then  turned  over  to  the  trustees  all  property  in  their  possession, 
however  acquired,  all  books  and  records,  and  nearly  eleven  thou- 
sand dollars  in  cash,  although  with  a  few  exceptions  the  entire 
teaching  staff  had  received  no  compensation  whatever  during  three 
of  the  five  years  preceding. 

That  the  Albany  Medical  College  should  have  survived  such 
a  method  of  reorganization  is  indeed  surprising  and  is  to  be  ex- 
plained by  the  fact  that  the  real  friends  of  the  school  desired 
its  perpetuation  and  entered  into  no  contest  that  might  have 
injured  the  school.  The  old  faculty  left  to  their  successors  a  well 
organized  and  equipped  going  institution,  with  a  large  and  expe- 
rienced teaching  staff,  and  while  a  good  many  of  these  did  not 
choose  to  accept  reappointment,  none  of  them  exhibited  any  antag- 
onism to  the  institution  nor  attempted  to  injure  it  by  opposi- 
tion. The  majority  of  the  students  remained  in  the  school,  for  it 
is  by  no  means  easy  to  change  from  one  college  to  another,  and  as 
the  trustees  agreed  to  finance  the  school  for  a  term  of  years  the 
administration  of  its  affairs  was  not  a  difficult  task.  But  this 
method  of  financing  is  at  best  but  a  temporary  one  and  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  the  school  must  depend  upon  the  raising  of 
sufficient  funds  to  permit  the  erection  and  equipment  of  new  build- 
ings and  the  providing  of  an  adequate  endowment.  For  over  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  the  school  has  been  successfully  operated ;  its 
reputation  is  widely  extended,  and  its  long  and  creditable  history 
is  one  of  its  most  valuable  assets.    It  has  a  large  and  loyal  body 


ALBANY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 


649 


of  alumni  who  have  always  been  its  best  friends  and  chief  sup- 
porters, and  despite  the  wrongs  which  have  been  done,  the  school 
survives  £ind  its  friends  are  encouraged  to  hope  that  it  may  be 
perpetuated  and  eventually  so  managed  as  to  secure  and  deserve 
the  respect  and  support  of  its  many  friends. 


